Working From Home - 5 Steps How To Stay Motivated and Productive

There are numerous benefits of working from home, such as no hectic commute and no transport costs, but sometimes these benefits can be outweighed by the disadvantages. There have been two periods in my life where I have worked from home on a continuous basis. The first period was about five years ago, were several factors disrupted my productivity. In my second period of home employment, I felt like I had really learnt from my previous experience and I would like to share these observations.

1. Have a routine, try to get up and start work at the same time everyday, give yourself fixed hours of work and breaks just like you would in the office. A typical work routine could be:

Start work at 9:30 a.m., have a ten-minute break at 11:00 a.m., then work from 11:10 a.m. to midday. Take a lunch break for one hour, start work again at 1:00 p.m. till 3:00 p.m., then have your second ten-minute break and by 4:30 p.m. bring your work to a close.

Use alarms to help you enforce this strict routine. Make sure you get away from the computer and do some exercise during your breaks. Having a routine will help minimise distractions such as taking too many coffee breaks, because once that happens it is surprising how quickly you can get behind in your work.

You may want to work shorter hours than the example above, that's fine at the end of the day you should tweak your routine to suit you.

Ads by Google
2. Get out of your pyjamas and have a wash, it's very common when working from home to get straight out of bed and jump on to the computer, but if you do that there is a chance that you won't get your mind into work mode. Having a wash and changing into your work clothes will make you feel more alert and prepare you for the work ahead.

3. Get yourself a decent office chair and desk to work on; when I first started working from home I used to work on the sofa with my laptop, but I found that sometimes I would fall asleep when I was meant to be working. I guess the sofa was just too relaxing.

4. Keep the television off, unless your work is influenced by the news. For instance, if you trade stocks and shares you will need access to the news, but have it on as low ambient noise.

5. The number one distraction for me when I work from home is family, this might not be the case for you, but if it is let them know from the outset that although you are at home they can't interrupt your work when they feel like it. Let them know that you have regular breaks and they can contact you during these periods. They should only break this rule in matters of extreme importance. The saying out of sight, out of mind is true try to find a quiet bedroom or spare room to conduct your work. If you live in a noisy household get your noise cancelling headphones ready so you can get into the work zone.

http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/working-from-home-5-steps-how-to-stay-motivated-and-productive-6639540.html