Working from home may sound like either a dream come true or a complete nightmare. Who hasn’t heard the horror stories of kids or pets doing random things in the background during video meetings? However, once you learn to navigate all the obstacles, you may actually learn to love it. In fact, two out of three managers say remote workers are more productive.
While five million people in the United States work at home part of the time, that number has currently exploded thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Millions are trying to figure out how to increase work-at-home productivity overnight. The good news is Google Assistant, which is available on iOS and Android devices, may be able to help you adjust.
1. Make Calls with Your Voice
Forget fiddling with your phone. Instead, confidently place calls just with your voice. All you have to do is say “Ok Google, call” and say your contact’s name. This may help you avoid distractions like playing games on your phone when you should be working. If you’re using your smartphone as your Google Assistant device, don’t use it for other tasks to avoid distractions while working.
2. Manage Your Calendar
One of the easiest ways to increase work-at-home productivity is to take charge of your schedule. However, you don’t have managers or co-workers to remind you about things when you’re home on your own. Let Google Assistant help manage your calendar. Google Calendar is a great way to schedule meetings, set reminders, add important things to do, and even plan out entire weeks and months quickly. Add things to your calendar, check shared calendars, and more with Google Assistant.
3. Get Overviews of Your Day
What exactly do you need to accomplish today? Ask Google Assistant to give you a quick overview of your day. Google pulls data from any to-do lists you’ve created as well as your calendar or schedule. Quickly see what needs to be done to help you stay more focused and avoid forgetting anything.
4. Keep Track of To-Do Lists
The secret to better work-at-home productivity is a great to-do list. You could opt for paper lists, but how many of those have you lost? Create daily and weekly to-do lists just by talking with Google Assistant. Name your lists and ask Google to check off items as you do them. You can also set times and reminders to avoid missing anything important like a meeting, creating a report, or ordering something by a set time.
5. Ask Quick Questions
Research is a necessary evil for most jobs. However, how often do you go from Googling something work-related to something random, such as “why do squirrels have fluffy tails” as you watch them play outside your window? Of course, you may still get sidetracked when asking Google Assistant to look things up, but maybe you won’t actually see cute, fluffy-tailed squirrel pictures to completely distract you. Simply ask questions, get the details you need, and keep working.
6. Order Supplies
Every work-from-home office needs supplies. Running out of printer ink? Ask Google Assistant to order some for you. Of course, you’ll have to go through setting up your financial details first, but Google will walk you through that part. Instead of having to manually do everything, ask Google Assistant to make a list of supplies you need to order or order them immediately as you need them.
7. Record Meetings
Did your child or spouse interrupt you during an important meeting? Afraid you missed something? Ask Google Assistant to record a call or video chat so you can go back and listen to it later. Now, instead of missing out thanks to distractions or physical note omissions, you can sit back, participate, and listen to the entire meeting later. The great thing is you can skip all the boring parts.
8. Take Notes
Need to take notes but don’t want to stop what you’re doing? Ask Google Assistant to take notes. Ask Google to create a new note and start talking. This is a great way to keep track of projects, list questions you want to ask during a meeting, organize research, and anything else you need to take notes on.
9. Play Work-at-Home Productivity Music
If you don’t live by yourself, trying to increase work-at-home productivity may seem about as effective as trying to find peace and quiet in a cubicle in a busy office. While Google Assistant can’t magically eliminate background noise or interruptions, it can play white noise and music to help shut out the world. Playing the right music can increase productivity and help you ignore outside noises.
The key is to use Google Assistant in ways that help you. Scheduling, note-taking, making calls, and providing background noise to increase focus all help boost your work-at-home productivity. In addition, learn how you can add more routines to Google Assistant and make it even more useful.
Crystal Crowder has spent over 15 years working in the tech industry, first as an IT technician and then as a writer. She works to help teach others how to get the most from their devices, systems, and apps. She stays on top of the latest trends and is always finding solutions to common tech problems.
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