When you’re working from home, it can be
tempting to take an hour out of your work day to watch Oprah, vacuum the house
or take a two and a half hour lunch at a café with a friend. On one hand, these
are the perks that make self-employment worthwhile. On the other hand, it’s
easy to lose focus and discipline when you are your own boss.
When I worked from home a year ago, I loved
being able to start work first thing in the morning. I would make coffee and
check my email and
respond to correspondence in my dressing gown at dawn, as I
find that’s when my brain is at its most alert (probably something to do with
the strength of the stovetop espresso).
One of the perks of transforming my abode
into a workplace as well was that my vitamin intake skyrocketed and my keyboard
contained a lot less crumbs. For lunch, I could indulge my cooking passion and
whip up a risotto or a fresh stir fry rather than scoffing a sandwich at my
desk. I could go jogging when I had the most energy – at 2pm –
rather than resentfully forcing myself out of bed to exercise before making it
to office by 9am.
Friends and family seemed to assume I was
permanently available without a boss looking over my shoulder, and would call
to talk at all times of the day. I fell pray to distraction and gave in too
easily to my own whims to drive out to the beach for the afternoon – whereas if
I’d been in an office, I would have achieved something in spending the
afternoon at my desk, not matter how unmotivated my mood.
To make the most out of a work day at home,
I had to become a self-made time management expert. These tips and tricks can be
applied to any working environment however, regardless of your industry.
To Do Lists
At the end of each work day, it’s useful to
make a prioritised list of what tasks need to be completed the following day. Working
out what tasks take priority can be achieved by asking yourself how long the project
will take, when it is due, and how much you want to do it - you may chose to do your favourite tasks first, or leave the best for last. It gives you a clearer idea of where you are positioned with your current
responsibilities if you cross off items on the list as you accomplish them, and
that feeling of looking at a fully crossed out list of tasks at the end of the
day promotes a satisfying sense of achievement.
Calendar and Timetable
The fastest way to get stressed is to begin
feeling overwhelmed by your tasks and deadlines. I use Microsoft Outlook’s
Calendar function, as I can insert and remove items at will. Details can be
added to the task such as a bullet pointed list of topics I want to cover in an
article, or phone numbers of people I need to call, or links to information online
relevant to the task.
Whether you use the calendar on your iPhone
or you write items by hand on to your 2008 Firemen’s Fundraiser calendar,
seeing weekly and monthly views of your tasks and goals each day helps to keep
your responsibilities in check.
Allow Time for Social Media and Stick To It
Being active in social media communities is
a fantastic way of increasing the traffic to your website, meeting people
interested in the same industry as you, and networking with potential clients.
Twitter, Facebook, and Stumbleupon are all excellent tools that offer
interaction and conversation for people who might be working from home alone,
as a feeling of isolation is the least desirable aspect of being your own boss.
But it’s easy to become distracted by
social media, and infinitely a more attractive way to spend time - connecting
with other people rather than plugging away at a pile of work. In order to make
the most of social media, you want to come across as intelligent and engaging,
but also productive. Updating Twitter every ten minutes is not only going to
bore your followers, it’s going to lower your credibility. To maintain focus
while working, ban yourself from checking email or Twitter for an hour or two
at a time while you pay attention to the task at hand.
Don’t Overdo It
When you work your own hours, it can be
hard to walk away from your job – mentally and physically. You may be dying to
watch Australian Idol, but it’s hard to concentrate on Dicko’s sparkling wit
when you’re worried about sending out all 50 orders by Friday.
If you haven’t completed everything that
you wanted to within a day, you can make the choice to either work a few extra
hours (as most
self-employed people force themselves to do) or decide that your
self-imposed deadlines will simply have to shift by a day, and let it go. Ask
yourself if you would have more energy to complete the task in the morning, and
getting a good night’s sleep would help you achieve more than forcing yourself
through an extra hour of work right now.
Repeat Routines
The routines in your life keep things running smoothly. Routine check ups ensure that your car
keeps running healthily, your teeth aren’t rotting and the Monday night habit of taking out your recycling means it gets
picked up every Tuesday morning. You probably apply routines to the rest of
your life without even being aware of it: calling your mother on Wednesdays, washing
your kids’ linen each Saturday, only eating pizza on Friday nights.
Add it in
to your daily routine to set aside half an hour at 4.30pm each day to make sure
all your emails are responded to and filed in to the relevant folders, make
sure that every Thursday you eliminate all paper from your desk in a
self-enforced filing spree. Without routines, it’s amazing how much time you can
spend staring in to space saying to yourself, “Now, where was I?”
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