One of the most difficult aspects of working from home is remaining focused on working tasks when the couch is just in the next room, your stomach keeps growling, the kids keep crying, the dog wants out, or you simply have a million other things you would rather be doing. Just as you would have to clock in and out of the job if you were working for someone else, you have to keep yourself clocked in at home if you are going to be successful.
Play a Game of Pretend
The first thing you need to do is go back to your childhood and remember how to play make believe. Set working hours that you will put your butt in that chair and do nothing but work. Pretend like nothing else exists during those hours. When the phone rings pretend you don't hear it. When your stomach growls remind yourself how many hours until lunchtime (yes, schedule that, too) and ignore it. Pretend you are super focused and most days you actually will be.
For instance, it's difficult to ignore a ringing phone because we are programmed to jump up and get it. It's time to re-program yourself by keeping the phone out of the room so you can't hear it ring or forcing yourself not to get it until the habit sets in. Remember, you can't be productive if you are distracted off-task over and over.
Lay Down the Law
Sit your family down and have a nice discussion about your new job working from home. Help the kids understand that while you will be home a lot more often, sometimes you will technically be "at work." Set up a system where they know when you are working.
For instance, you could hang a sign on the door that flips between "come on in" and "hard at work." If there is someone else in the home to care for the children during those hours then flip the sign and shut the door. When you hear things happening inside the house go back the first tip and pretend you don't hear it. You are now "at work."
If you there isn't anyone else to watch the kids then keep the door open but train the kids to look for that sign. Small children can be given their own tasks for short periods of time so they feel they are at work, too.
Avoid the Electronic Trap
It's great that we have so many electronic tools to make our workdays interesting and more productive, but some of them can get out of hand and turn work time into play time. Make sure to keep email and social networking accounts under control by setting rules on how often and how long you check these things during working hours. Actually disciplining yourself to stick to the rules is hard at first.
For instance, you can allow yourself to check your email or send out a quick tweet the first five minutes of every hour. Once it flips to five after the hour it is immediately back to work-related tasks.
If you can set down some rules and find a way to get your family on board with your work schedule, it is not that difficult to be productive while working from home.
If you're determined to work at home and want to avoid anger frustration and make a boatload of money at teh same time start with these 3 easy tips.
- Play a Game of Pretend
- Lay Down the Law
- Avoid the Electronic Trap
Remember, you are now the big boss and keeping yourself clocked in during work hours is essential to business success.
