In my last post, I wrote about my Pros and Cons of working from home. If you have not read it you may want to check it out before reading on but no worries if you don’t. This survival guide stands on its own.
Working from home, while awesome, still presents its challenges. I have pretty much worked from home my entire professional life and these are the things I focus on, and practice to be successful. This is a very fundamental list, but it is often the fundamentals I tend to abandon. When I feel like I am slipping up, getting behind or not running my business the way I want to, I come back to this list. These fundamentals keep me on track.
- Establish a Work Schedule
This is not the schedule of your daily work activities, that comes later, this is the schedule that everyone else in your life is aware of. It can be tricky to manage and plan the day to day activities for my family if my schedule is a Wild Card. One of the Pros of working from home is the flexibility over your schedule but for the sake of consistency with my family, I have established a set work schedule. My family knows what time I head into my office and until about what time I finish up. Not only is this good for my family to know my schedule, but also it leads to a consistent pattern for my work, and consistency is good.
2. Have a Dedicated Work Area
This one is a no brainer right?
Ideally, this area is a separate and closed off office with doors and privacy. If not that, at least an isolated area in your house where you can separate from whatever else may be going on. If you live alone or have your entire house to yourself all day, it’s a bit different in that regard. Regardless, here is why working in a separate dedicated space is so important if you aren’t already, at least in my experience. Aside from the obvious reason of other house activity, I find that having my own separate space helps keep my mind right. Some of my Cons discuss how it can be challenging to separate the work and home mindsets when you work from home as well as the distraction of simply being in your home. Having a dedicated workspace draws a real clear boundary where all of my work stuff lives and keeps me and my. mind off of all the other potential distractions on the other side of the door.
3. Go with a Desk Set Up That Works for You
Once you have established a dedicated work area, get your desk and workstation set up in a way that works for you. I set up a simple and light, inexpensive desk. It is conducive to both my style of work and my personal style. On my desk is one laptop, two monitors, my notebook, and whatever else I might need. (see title pic) This makes it easier for me to work as efficiently as possible. My set up is all about functionality and simplicity. I believe as long as it works for you, there is no wrong way to do it.
4. Establish a Routine, Workflow and Systems
This is how you work. I have a routine in place I follow on a day to day basis. It begins with how I organize and prioritize my day right out the gate. From there all the different things I do for work have a specific system or process they follow. I rely on accounting software and a CRM to help manage these systems as well as other systems I have put into place. Aside from ultimately getting things done, having a set routine and a system in place for everything I do allows me to be efficient, consistent and thorough. Having a consistent approach to how I operate daily keeps me in control. For me, this feeling of control seems to alleviate stress and anxiety about work-related items.
5. Get Organized – Stay Organized
Simple Really. Get an organization system in place for anything that you need to keep track of. My business relied on paper files for years for which an extensive filing system was put in place. In the last few years, I have transitioned everything to digital files and records. Effective organization is not only important for work reasons, but it also keeps clutter to a minimum and prevents confusion down the line.
6. Get Your Work Done
At the end of the day, not much else matters if you don’t get your work done. Just Work!
7. Repeat then Repeat Again
It’s all good when you are productive and getting work done with systems and routines in place, but irregularity will destroy momentum. The key is to be consistent and keep doing it. Especially considering working from home can be an environment where it is easy to check out and slack off. For me, there is no oversight so it is important to not only identify the activities critical to success but to do them consistently. The momentum of success is an outcome of consistent activities.
In closing, possibly the best thing about working from home is the freedom and flexibility it offers. I spend time focusing on these things so I can give myself more time to finish days early and spend that time with my family. So take advantage of the freedom and enjoy it. Work hard, play hard.
HRZN HNTR 