How to Work From Home Without Losing Motivation -- or Getting Distracted

Working from home isn't always easy. There are so many distractions! Stay motivated and work just as well as you would from work with these tips. Whether you work for an employer at your home, or have your own business, these ideas will help!

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. To avoid distractions while working at home, create a clearly defined "work space." Make sure that in your field of vision you don't have tempting things like a television, other tasks unrelated to work, your personal cell phone, etc. Position a desk similarly to how you would at work. In front of you, place work-related objects such as to-do lists, a work calendar and objectives for the day.

2. One of the biggest culprits that prevent a person from working well at home, are all of those "home tasks" that seem to make sense to do. But these end up distracting you from work. Batch up all of your "home tasks" into one to-do list.

3. Create a folder with pockets for these "home" items to keep them organized and out of your brain during work time. Slip the "home" to-do list into the front of the folder. Then take everything on your mind that is distracting you from work and put it into the folder -- bills, receipts, cards to send, etc. Make a choice to not work on these tasks until your work day ends, so you can focus on them completely and be more effective -- half-way doing laundry will mean it takes you longer to finish BOTH the laundry and your work.

4. Then designate an area of your home and place several large boxes. Place all items that are to-do for your home here -- food to donate, things to recycle, clothing to return to the store, etc. Put all of these things as far away from your workspace as you can so you are not distracted.

5. Next, to focus in on your work, create a daily work "to-do" list. Write it either in the morning or the night before. Highlight everything that MUST be finished today no matter what. Make sure you complete these items and send them to your boss or clients. Then assign a priority to other items on your list.

6. So, to conclude, working at home doesn't have to be so distracting! Creating a separate work space free from distractions is the first step, followed by batching together home tasks into a folder (for your to-do list and paper things like bills), plus a designated area for larger "home" to-do items like things to return to a store. Then, adding a work daily "to do" list with priorities is key. Combine these techniques to make it much easier to accomplish everything you need to do during the day at work!

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that temptation will continue. Remind yourself that doing too many things at once will prevent you from being successful at work -- and at your home tasks. Keep them separate.

Resources

• my life coaching web site
• Follow me on TWITTER!

[JulieMelillo]

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[hardworker]

on 3/4/2009 this is some good tips. I'm at home because of surgery and I often find myself distracted and/or sleepy. 5* and recommendation.

[thedogshrink]

on 12/21/2008 Excellent article. Some good tips here on a very tough subject. 5*

[Devero]

on 12/13/2008 Interesting