By Amy | Leave A Comment
Working from home has many benefits and distractions.
Colleen, a work-at-home mom in Texas who just had her second child a little over two months ago, says the hardest part about working from home is not having a traditional office where she can shut the door.
“I office out of our dining room, which is less than convenient. That means even when I’m “off the clock” I can see my computer and the emails coming in. It’s way too tempting to tell my nearly 3-year-old daughter, “Just let me check one e-mail and I’ll be right there!” That usually leads to me getting sucked into an online work conversation or taking on a new project when I should be enjoying family time.”
This Zen Habits article has 30 tips for staying productive at home.
My favorites are:
Define your spaces; separate work from home.
I have a corner work area in what would be considered our formal dining room. Although we have a traditional L-shaped computer desk downstairs in our bonus room, I prefer having my corner office in this room because it is by a huge picture window that faces the front lawn. I had tried working from our breakfast bar, but it was too centrally located to all the household activity, not to mention the refrigerator.
No turning on the computer for a quick email check or to do one little thing until you’ve gotten “ready for work” as mentioned above.
I’ll admit this is really tough for me. If I log on to my computer first thing in the morning, before I shower and get ready for the day, I tend to get sucked into checking e-mail and before I know it it’s time to make sure my daughters are up and I’m running late.
And lastly:
Be grateful you’re working from home and not in some cubicle!
Although working from home has its own unique challenges, I wouldn’t trade it for 8 to 5 in an office ever again.
My tips for staying productive while working from home include:
Let your voice mail pick up personal calls that can wait or telemarketer calls.
If you’re working a full day at home, make sure you occasionally make lunch dates with a friend or family member (this is also a great way to have a “date” with your husband.)
Log out of your personal e-mail or messaging programs while you are working. And if you’re a blogger, like me, resist the urge to check your blog reader program. Save that for lunch.
If you’re working while your children are home, try to schedule your busy time during their nap times or set aside time at night to work (although this can take time away from your spouse). When my youngest daughter was a baby I worked solely from home. Thank goodness for her two long naps because I would get as much work done as possible during that time!
If you work from home, how do you stay on task? Please visit Blissfully Domestic Living, our social group, to share your thoughts, tips and get answers to your questions!
Jamie is a Southern working soccer mom to two little girls who struggles to get to work, or anywhere for that matter, on time and find 5 minutes of peace and quiet that don’t factor in a toilet. Visit her over at Blonde Mom Blog today!
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Great tips!
I have been a work at home mom for 17 years with a direct sales business. One of the best tips I have learned for staying focused and productive is a technique I call the 15 Minute Focus – check out my blog post for more details. It has helped me accomplish so much in my life – not just business related things but other things as well! Give it a try. http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/inspire-finding-focus-with-the-15-minute-focus/
I’ve been a freelance writer/WAHM for 2 years now. The best thing I did was to start getting up early – 5am — to hit the gym. (I’m a lark so it’s not that hard overall.) I walk for an hour or run/walk for 45 minutes and head home to write from about 6-8,when the kids get up (2.5 yrs and a newborn). It gets exercise out of the way and gives me tons of energy. I seem to get tons more done in the hour or two after I get home than I do at any other time, so I write like crazy or do housework if I’m caught up with my writing.
It also helps also to frontload your time with your kids so that you don’t get tugged on all day with requests to read stories, etc… So I’ll spend an hour or so after breakfast just playing and reading stories before I break open the computer to write. By then they’ll want to do their own thing, and you’ll get a little time to work.
And never underestimate the power of putting clothes out the night before, making a short list of what you need to do the next day, and getting housework out of the way by 10am, so you can enjoy the rest of the day and work your own gig.
Thanks for posting this! I have been writing at home for 8 years now (4 books published; syndicated column; dozens of articles), but I do find the computer sucks me in.
We also homeschool, and trying to make that my priority is really difficult, especially when a big idea strikes me. The only thing that works is giving myself office hours: 8-9 a.m., a big break at lunch, and then 4-5:30. The crockpot is a saver for that, because I put dinner on early in the day while I’m schooling the kids, and then use the time I’d traditionally be cooking dinner to work.
But even right now I’m not sticking to my office hours because it’s 9:04. Better get moving…
Blissfully Domestic was so smart to sign the Blonde Mom Jamie on! A great writer, with another great post. I agree with all of those tips but they’re just so hard to aways follow! Fortunately, I don’t really have a ‘sit-down’ at the computer all day job, but I do give into checking emails constantly. And I get mad at myself when I tell my kids, ‘Hold on, I’ll be right there, let me just check my mail real quick.’
I try to do lots of my work while they’re napping and at night. But, having an online biz means customers are emailing day AND night. I just need to let some of those wait. But, will I?!