I was recently asked to share my top five tips to staying productive when working from home! It can be a little challenging working from home as much as I do because it’s easy to get caught up in house work when really, I’ve got two stories due next week, seven etsy orders to get out, a blog to update, a design to get approved, and meetings to schedule! If I’m sitting in my kitchen working, I’m going to be staring at the dirty dishes, or the floors that need to be swept, and I get side tracked. That’s why it was imperative that I create a little home office in our guest room where I can go, shut the door, and forget about house work for several hours at a time. Aside from creating a secluded work space, here are my five tips to staying task-oriented on days that I’m working at home!
1. Start off on the right foot
This, to me, is one of the most important ways to have a productive work day! I believe that if you start off on the right foot, things are much more likely to go smoothly than if you just kinda spill into the office without having properly prepared yourself!
For me to be most productive, I like to wake up early enough to have a quiet time. Just a few minutes of reading God’s word, praying, and chilling with my pups and husband by my side. During our quiet times, we sip on coffee to get the caffeine flowing, then afterwards, I make us a healthy breakfast which usually looks something like a whole grain and protein packed muffin or a protein shake! (I’m a huge believer in coffee and breakfast! There’s nothing worse than starting off your day tired and hungry!)
Starting off having prayed over my work day and feeling healthy and nourished helps me so much. I try to continue the healthy trend throughout the work day, too, by drinking plenty of water, snacking on healthy munchies, and avoiding burgers and what not for lunch. Nothing kills productivity like feeling the need to take a post-lunch nap due to all the grease ingested over the twelve o’clock hour!
2. Make a list
Having a list helps me SO MUCH! I’m one of those people who puts anything and everything on my list. My list may be long, but boy it feels good to check things off the list! I simply sit down at the beginning of each day, write out what all I know I need to get done that day, then keep adding to it as things come to mind throughout the day. It helps me to be able to check anything off my list, even if it’s just “email Kendall back” or something small like that. Bang out a quick email, hit send, and check that baby off that list! Feeling of accomplishment!
If something on your list is to start working on getting a new small business off the ground, I’ve heard wonderful things about how Kabbage prides themselves with helping entrepreneurs boost their productivity! Getting help with that and being able to cross that off the list of things to do is MAJOR, wouldn’t you agree?
3. Schedule wisely
When you work from home, people automatically assume you can go get lunch whenever, or meet whenever or wherever because, well, you work from home! I’ve really had to make a personal rule to not plan outings or meetings for every day of the week. Running to lunch, or going downtown for a meeting once a day each day of the week really cuts into productivity for me. My remedy for this is to schedule as much as I can on, say, Tuesday morning. I’ll try to schedule a coffee meeting at 9:00, a trip to take more inventory to a store around 10:00, and lunch with a friend at noon with a supply run and blogging session at Starbucks squeezed in between 10:30 and noon. That way, once I’m out for the morning, I can get 5 things accomplished instead of going to a meeting, going home. Going to lunch, going home. Grabbing printer ink, going home. I call it ‘cluster scheduling’ and I love it!
4. Give yourself some atmosphere
If I’m working on putting a stationery order together or painting a design for a custom project, I put on a fun Pandora station, light a candle, turn on all the ambient lighting in the room that I can, and make sure to have a fresh cup of coffee to really create a fun atmosphere that I’ll enjoy working in! When an atmosphere is stimulating, I get so much more done. If I’m writing a story for a magazine or something, I can’t concentrate as well with music going, so I’ll nix that part, but you better believe I still have that good lighting, that candle going, and that cup of joe close by!
5. Take technology breaks
Believe it or not, you do not have to have your phone next to you at all times! I know, I know… It might come as a newsflash, but I promise you will not die without checking your phone for an hour! It’s actually quite freeing to put that baby on silent, put it on a table across the room, and forget about it for an hour. I know that there is a lot of business done via cell phone these days, but unless you’re involved in stocks or something where every minute counts, your business will not fall apart because it takes you 60 minutes to reply to a text!
Same with email. A little notification popping up that you have a new email is NOT a signal to drop everything you’re doing and check that email. It can wait a little while!
I try to keep my phone and email checking limited to every hour or so. Once I’m finished checking, I’ll get back on track for an hour, then check it again after some more productivity at my desk with my phone back on the other side of the room.
What are your tips to productivity? I know everyone functions differently and that some of my tips may not apply to you, but I’d love to hear what keeps you on track! I’m always looking for more ways to stay organized and focused! 🙂
