Due to the COVID-induced pandemic, a lot of people left with no choice other than working from home. Working from home can be an overwhelming process as it comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Apart from having a dedicated workspace at home, it would be best if you also got hold of a few must-have tools from Google to enhance your productivity and better time management. In this article, we are going to mention a few tools from Google, which you can use for better productivity and work-life balance.
You can use Google Assistant to pre-set your regular reminders like drinking water, taking a break, etc. Now, they are also introducing a workday routine feature that will help you stay active all day. For instance, Google Assistant will give you reminders to do stretching in the morning, water intake during lunch, and start packing up your work in the evening. With these reminders, you can easily establish a work-life balance while working from home.
Google Assistant can also create a to-do list and set reminders for you, which can help you in eliminating your dependency on your smartphone to a great extent. With Google Assistants, you can give voice commands like “Hey Google, remind me to drink water at 3 pm” or “Hey Google, schedule my meeting for tomorrow at 11.00 am.”
Other than setting reminders, you can also ask Google to remind you to keep track of movies and TV shows. All you need to say is “Hey Google, remind me to watch Dark on Netflix tomorrow.” You can also schedule recurring reminders and ask for other schedule updates. Google Assistant can also help you in performing day to day office activities like starting a meeting or scheduling calls on Google Meet.
To relax or to take a break, you can ask Google Assistant for some mindfulness practices like switch off your phone or turn on soothing music. To develop the correct sleep pattern, Google has also come up with Gentle Sleep and Wake features which will make your light dim during night.
Google Docs is one of the most sought out office suites because of its easy integration with other Google services. With Google Docs, you can easily collaborate with your team members for a smoother workflow. If you are into the Google ecosystem, then you can also access Google Sheets and Google Slides for your spreadsheet and presentation needs.
Google’s Hangout is one of the most reliable tools to do a video conference with multiple colleagues at the same time. With its premium version, you can add up to 1,00,000 participants on a single call which makes it an ideal tool for business meetings. Google Hangout can be used on multiple devices like mobile, laptop, tablet, PC, which makes it a fantastic tool for remote workers. With Google Hangouts, you can access tools like call recording, real-time transcription, and more. For personal calls, you can use Google Duo. If you want to do a small video conference with limited participants, then Google Duo is the best option as it allows 12 participants at one time.
Conclusion
Due to the pandemic, the work from home is not limited to certain work domains. The COVID-induced pandemic mandated the work from home for everyone. Initially, you can face multiple problems and challenges to keep yourself productive at home. Still, with the help of the Google tools as mentioned above, you can easily create a work-life balance and stay more productive.
source: Tools from Google to Stay Productive While Working from Home
