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| Working from home can be very rewarding...if you are disciplined. |
My strategies for focusing are:
- I work preset hours every day, unless I have prior documented plans. (The same way I’d need to explain to employees or a boss that I would be gone for awhile.)
- I have a regular routine that kicks off my day, the Wall Street Journal and coffee. I then check Yahoo and Bing news. This way, I avoid surfing the Internet for news and updates during the work day.
- I go into the office. If you don’t have a separate room with a door that’s an office, you can designate an area and always use that area to work, except when you need a break.
- I schedule meetings with customers and potential partners, attend business association meetings, training and other events. This gets me out of my home office. If I sit at my computer or on the phone all day, every day each week with little work-related human interaction, I go a little nuts. If for some reason I have no or few outside meetings, I’ll grab a few hours at the local Starbucks where a lot of other business people congregate.
- I make a to do list first thing each morning (or the night before) and keep a deliverables calendar. Seeing things in writing helps me keep myself accountable.
- I sometimes go work out in the middle of the day or go take a walk. This is what I did when I worked from an office. I consider myself an athlete so the physical activity clears my head and helps me refocus and continue being productive the rest of the day.
