If you find yourself working from home or working remotely, it may feel difficult to stay productive when you’re not in your usual office environment or surrounded by busy colleagues.

Instead, focus on improving elements of your job that you can control: Say ‘no’ to too many obligations that will derail you from bigger goals, turn off external distractions, and take time to disconnect and recharge when you work at home.

By Marcel Shwantes, for

photo: Revamp your work engagement with these small changes. Merla/Shutterstock.com

Want to be more productive during your day or week? Do what some of the world’s most successful people do to gain an edge and get the most out of a day, even when you work at home.

But if following the advice of a Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, or Bill Gates isn’t your cup of tea, consider following the advice of science. It has been telling us the best tricks to become more productive for decades, and you don’t even have to wake up at that ungodly hour of 4 a.m.!

While some things are out of our control when it comes to managing our day, there are things within our control that may just transform how we perform our work — while giving back our lives.

1. Get on the same page before a meeting

Jack Dorsey cofounded one of the most connective social media platforms out there: Twitter. It’s clear from the way he holds meetings that connectivity is not just what he does for work, but how he does it.

“Most of my meetings are Google-Docs-based, starting with 10 minutes of reading and commenting in the doc,” Dorsey tweeted. “This makes time for everyone to get on the same page, allows us to work from many locations, and get to critical thinking faster.”

Research agrees with Dorsey. According to a recent study, making sure everyone is on the same page creates a sort of “team” feeling among co-workers and allows you to get to critical thinking faster — a key piece of productivity.