While working at home, you are required to be your own boss.
You must treat yourself as if you are supervising an employee of the company. YOU!
There is a misconception that people who work at home have it easy.
Successful people working at home usually have been successful time managers and discipline themselves to achieve the goal they have preset.
They set their schedules, wake up any time, do not have to dress up to go to the office, and work at their own pace.
Most people think that those who take the home-base route also work more effectively than those in the office because of the relaxed environment and the absence of a strict boss who constantly looks over their shoulders.
“It is all hoopla!” say the people who work at home. According to them, working at home is more challenging than being in the office.
First, because of the absence of time pressure, you will have the tendency not to set a schedule. If you made one, you will be tempted not to follow it unless you have motivating goals.
For instance, if you have set yourself to work on a particular task at 2 p.m. and your favorite talk show suddenly airs a re-run of its best episode for the year, you could forego the work schedule and, instead, watch television, thinking that the task can be done later.
A lot of “laters” later, you find yourself cramming and getting all stressed out become your deadline is in an hour. Because of the absence of a boss who watches you like a hawk, you will be tempted to do other things and find ways to stall. You might find yourself taking a nap instead of working on a task, or taking a bath longer than usual.
Or you might get carried away surfing other Web sites that you’ve forgotten the assignment that you need to finish right away.
In short, there are a lot more temptations working at home than there are in the office. And if you’re a mother working from home, the challenge doubles, because your kids will be calling on you from time to time.
The key to succeeding at home-based work is to set goals and manage your time well. Discipline yourself to follow through with your schedule.
Here are some tips to help you while working at home.
Maximize time :
Because you are aware that handling time and distractions is difficult when you’re working at home, you must maximize the time you spend accomplishing tasks when you’re really in the mood.
Find out if you work better in the morning, in the afternoon, or in the evening, and then commit yourself to sitting at your desk and accomplishing all that you can during your peak times. Use this momentum time to explode your productivity!
Set up a professional-looking office:
Just because you’re working at home doesn’t mean you can’t have an office that looks like the real thing. Choose a quiet corner in the house or a room where you believe will minimize distractions while you’re working.
Design the area the same way an office would look so that you don’t feel that you’re just at home. You really need to control your work environment and maximize it’s effects on your productivity.
And, yes . . . Discipline yourself:
Who else would do this but you? Act like your own boss and berate yourself every time you are tempted to stray from the job at hand.
Make up some rewards and penalties for yourself. If you were working outside the home, your BOSS would! When you really value your job, you eventually find the will to work.
It may be difficult at first to keep to a preset schedule, considering that you can always change your mind and leave things as they are.
You should always keep in mind that the earnings you get from working at home are the same ones that pay the bills and buy all the necessities in your life.
This should be motivation enough to keep you alert and working at home. See you next time. – Al