10 Productivity Hacks for Remote Workers That Actually Work

Skip the wake-up-at-5am stuff

Every productivity article tells you to meditate for 20 minutes and batch your emails. Cool. Let me tell you what actually works when you have 6 calls a day and you're trying to ship code between them.

1. Prep your screen before every call

I know, I'm biased. But the 2 minutes you spend closing apps, hiding files, silencing notifications before a call is wasted time. I built QuickPresent specifically for this. Press a button, screen is clean. Press it again after the call, everything's back. When you have 5 calls a day, those minutes add up fast.

2. Two browser profiles

One for work, one for personal. Your personal bookmarks, passwords, and history never show up when you share your screen. Chrome and Edge both support this. Set it up once, never think about it again.

3. Block time around deep work

Don't just schedule "focus time" on your calendar. Block 15 minutes before and after it so nobody books a meeting right up against it. Google Calendar has a "Speedy meetings" setting that makes 30-min meetings 25 min automatically. Use it.

4. Close Slack during focus time

Sounds scary. It's not. Set a routine where you check Slack for 5 minutes every hour instead of leaving it open all day. You'll miss zero critical things. Slack is the single biggest time sink for remote workers and nobody talks about it.

5. Dedicated monitor for meetings

If you have two monitors, put the meeting on one and your work on the other. When sharing, share only the specific window. If you need to share your whole desktop, make sure it's clean. That's where QuickPresent comes in.

6. Automate your meeting prep

QuickPresent can detect when you join Zoom, Meet, or Teams and ask if you want to turn on presentation mode. So you don't have to remember. One less thing to think about.

7. Learn your keyboard shortcuts

Seriously. Mute/unmute in Zoom is Cmd+Shift+A. Screen share is Cmd+Shift+S. Switch apps with Cmd+Tab. Lock your screen with Cmd+Ctrl+Q on Mac, Win+L on Windows. Knowing these saves you seconds every time, and those seconds feel like minutes when you're live on a call.

8. Don't save stuff to your desktop

Just don't. Use Downloads, use cloud storage, whatever. A clean desktop isn't just about looking professional. It's less visual clutter, which genuinely helps you focus.

9. Same workspace every day

Even if it's just a corner of your room. Your brain associates the space with work and you get into flow faster. Good lighting helps too. Nothing fancy, just make sure your face isn't in shadow on video calls.

10. Shutdown routine

Spend 5 minutes at the end of each day. Close everything. Write tomorrow's top 3 priorities. Clear your desktop. Set Slack to away. This creates a clean break between work and personal time, which is really hard when your office is also your living room.

The pattern here

Most of this is about removing friction. The less setup and cleanup you do around your actual work, the more time you spend on the work itself.

That's why I built QuickPresent. It removes one of the most common friction points for anyone who works remotely.

Download QuickPresent →

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QuickPresent is available for Mac and Windows. See pricing · Setup guide