The days of many professionals having to rent brick and mortar space for their business is quickly going by the wayside. More and more non traditional work spaces are popping up and the number of professionals working from home continues to increase along with new small businesses that rely strictly on the online market for their customers. Those that are successful are willing to share their secrets for being productive whether they are working in their house, on the road, at the office or in a local coffee shop.
Working from home eliminates the need to commute; however, it’s not without its challenges – distractions are common at home whether it’s the children, company, television or errands that grab your attention. Let’s look at how to stay focused and productive.
- Have a separate space – You need a space that’s your home office where you can close the door and ignore all of your distractions whether it’s the television in the background or the kids screaming.
- Music by headphone – One great way to stay focused and block out distraction sis to use a headset and listen to music in the background.
- Get dressed – One of the biggest mistakes those that work from home make is to not bother getting ‘ready’ for their day. Go through a morning routine just like you would if you worked outside your home. There’s no sitting around in your PJ’s all day – at least not if you want to be productive.
- Don’t eat in your office space – This is the time to take a break and regroup. If you are constantly in your work space your thoughts will begin to become stale and you’ll be less focused.
- Determine when you are most productive – Figure out when you get the most done. You might get ten times the work done working from 9pm to 1pm then you do working all morning or afternoon. Or maybe you do your best work from 12am to 4am. If at all possible figure out your productive time and work during that time.
- Three monitors – It wasn’t that long ago that a person was considered very techie to be running three monitors, now it’s the norm for those who are most productive.
There you have it