The modern workplace is a far cry from what it used to be. Gone are the days when people had to push pieces of paper around the office to get things done. New technology has made remote working a reality that a lot of office workers have chosen to take advantage of. You can forget about setting up a home office, though. You have everything that you need to complete a full day’s work in your pocket.
Setting up a dedicated office space to allow you to work from home can prove to be expensive and time-consuming- even if your place of work is footing the bill. That is why you can benefit from using your smartphone for work as much s possible. Not sure how? Let’s show you.
Set Up Your Notifications Correctly
One of the greatest difficulties that you will face when working on your smartphone is dealing with all the distractions. Unless you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated smartphone provided by your workplace, you will probably use your personal smartphone to communicate with people in your personal life. You can do this on WhatsApp or a multitude of other social media platforms.
It doesn’t matter how much work you have to do. A quick notification from one of your friends on one of these sites is enough to derail your entire workday. We’ve all spent hours diving down a rabbit hole when receiving a funny video or meme from a friend. These are precious hours that you cannot afford to waste when at work. You can easily avoid these types of distractions by turning off the notifications for the apps and messaging services that are likely to grab your attention during office hours. You can also time these blocks using the settings of your phone so that you can continue to receive personal messages and notifications once you have finished your workday.
Make Use Of The Time You Save
Although some notifications on your smartphone can prove distracting, receiving some from work at the right time can save you so much time. So many employees that do not work remotely have to waste time during a standard eight-hour working day. You may have to travel, join meetings, or face technical problems in just one working day. It is during these unfortunate times that you are wasting precious hours when you could be being productive.
When you use your smartphone for work, you can literally take your office wherever you go so you never miss out on what you need to get done. Just make sure you have a reliable internet connection if you have to leave the house and still use your smartphone.
Use The Right Tools
Of course, most office employees choose to work on a home computer because it already comes with the necessary tools for you to do your job. These tools usually include:
– Microsoft word
– Excel
– PDF editor
– Multiple windows
These types of tools are also available to use on your smartphone. They may not come as standard on your device, but it is easy to set up your smartphone to include all the tools you need for work. You may need to rethink how you include these tools, however. For example, a regular PDF may be too big to open and read on your tiny smartphone. Therefore, you may need a PDF compressor. So long as you think about the right tools that you need, you should easily be able to set up your smartphone to work just like a regular office computer.
Stay Still
Almost every smartphone user has been in a situation where they are walking along the street and sending a text and they either walk into a solid object or another person. Now think just how focused you would be if you are using your smartphone for work purposes. You are almost guaranteed to bash into someone if you are out and about doing work on your smartphone.
It may seem obvious, but you will avoid these potential accidents if you just stay still. You wouldn’t walk around the office if you were forced to use a standard PC setup, so don’t do it with your smartphone. Just because you can walk around untethered when working from your smartphone doesn’t mean that you should. Try to find a stable workplace to use your smartphone at work and treat your device just like you would a standard PC. This way you can avoid any potential accidents.
Make Use Of The Alarm Feature
It is a miracle that more people aren’t late during the workday considering that the only indication of time that people have in an office is that tiny clock in the bottom corner of your computer screen. You would expect that a clock on your smartphone would be even smaller, making time management almost impossible but this is not the case.
Your morning alarm may be a burden when it rings you awake every day, but you would be lost without it. Fortunately, every smartphone comes with an alarm feature that you can use to track your day. Doing so will ensure that you always stay on track and never miss an important deadline again.
Stay Connected
You are probably aware that your smartphone’s primary function is to be used as a communication device. You wouldn’t have bought one otherwise. It is perfectly normal for smartphone users to let their devices get bogged down with apps and games that it can almost be impossible to sift through it all to get to the things you really need.
It can be the same when you use your phone for work too. You don’t want to miss out on any important emails or calls when you are at work, after all. Try to keep your apps organized so that you can always find what you need and so your colleagues can easily reach you.
Multitask
There is more to life than your workday. You will have a lot of things that you need to do before and after work and it can all be overwhelming. Sometimes a full eight hours of work can tire you out so much that you don’t feel like running the hoover around the house or hitting the gym. Fortunately, working with a smartphone can give you the freedom to multi-task in a way that you have never thought of before.
You can write out and post a blog while on your exercise bike. You can also send off some urgent emails while dusting the house. So long as you keep your notifications on, you can keep in contact with people at work no matter what you decide to do. With your smartphone, you can perform all your duties in one eight-hour period using the power of multitasking. You couldn’t do that in a standard office or when you are rooted to a normal computer monitor.
Conclusion
There will be plenty of chances for you to use your smartphone at work in the future. When you do, make sure you remember this advice to make your work experience as productive as possible.
