There are more and more people looking to gain the time freedom you can achieve when you work from home. Companies are allowing people to work from home and others choose to in order to gain extra income to the household. Whether you are proof reading, you are a mystery shopper or you are stuffing envelopes it can be a daunting but exciting time. In order to get you up and running I have produced a checklist of the things you need to consider to be as productive as possible when you work from home. 1.
Create some space a. Have you created an area where you can focus on work? b. Is it in a separate room from possible distractions? i.e. TV, the kids, pets. c. Can you shut a door between the two areas to ensure you can focus? 2. Work to your strengths a. Have you thought when you work best? Identify when you work well and when you don’t b. When do you lose focus throughout the day? c. When are you most focused during the day? d. Have you listed your other commitments? i.e. kids, walking the dog, the gym 3. When are your hours of work and when are your breaks? a. What times are you going to work between? b. How many hours do you need to be doing each day? c. What time are your breaks? d. How many breaks will you have? e. When will you finish for the day? When do you relax? 4. Create your schedule a. Have you put a schedule together to capture all of the points above? b. Does this ensure you are working when you are at your best? c. Are you still getting the time freedom you want? If not, do you need to adjust this? d. Are your family getting ‘quality’ time with you? 5. Know what you need ‘To Do’ a. Have you made a list of the things you need to do? b. Have you prioritised these by importance and urgency? c. Have you ordered these so you can work through them in an order? 6. Have you created some targets? a. Have you set SMART targets for the day? b. Have you set targets for the week? c. Have you thought about where you want your business to be in a month? 7. Get motivated? a. Have you thought about what motivates you? Inspirational music, poetry or quotes? b. Have you surrounded yourself with these things in your work area? 8. When you are having a bad day? a. Have you thought about how you will react when you are having a bad day? b. How will you refocus? Will you take a break or change what you are doing? 9. Have you told your friends and family? a. Have you told your friends what you are doing so they can support you? b. Have you told your family what you are doing so they can support you? c. Do you feel supported enough? d. Do you need to look to join a group, a forum or a network to get additional support? 10. How will you congratulate yourself? a. How will you recognise the successes? b. How are you going to celebrate your little successes? c. Who will you celebrate the successes with?