Work At Home Businesses – 2 Tips For Improving Productivity
Picture this: you get up, go through your morning rituals, kiss your significant other goodbye, and head off to work… in your spare bedroom. Work at home businesses are a dream many share. You get to be your own boss, set your own hours, spend more time with your family, and get rich. Right? Well, not always. In fact, as you’ll see, working at home can actually be tougher than working away from where you live.
The Discipline Factor
In a word, running businesses from home takes discipline. Consistent discipline. This is what trips up many would-be work at home entrepreneurs. The lure is deceptive. It’s enticing to envision yourself toiling away a few feet from where you sleep every night instead of a long car commute to your current employer. But the advantage of working for someone else in another location should not be ignored: fewer distractions.
See, when you shift into working at home, you often have to learn a skill you never needed before - how to stay focused amidst myriad distractions. All the little things you don’t pay attention to at home during your off hours: phone ringing, kids playing, spouse intruding to ask questions or favors, that leaf blower next door, etc. The reality is, a lot of people who start work at home businesses fail because they never master this one skill.
How To Become Disciplined
The good news is that you can pretty easily set up ways to block out all those distractions and get more productive work done in your home business. There are two specific tips I can offer as someone who has “been there, done that.” These are not theories. I know from personal experience as someone who has worked from home for years that these two ideas work. I suffered from being easily distracted until I took action on the following solutions.
Work Set Hours
The first thing that will improve your ability to do more work at home is setting work hours and posting them around the house. It may sound corny, but the biggest source of distraction is usually your own family. Businesses demand focus, no matter where the work is being performed. Sit down with your family and explain that you’re not any less serious just because you now work from the house. Make it a hard-and-fast rule that during work hours, you are not to be disturbed unless there’s an emergency. Print out some ‘work hours’ and ‘do not disturb’ sheets and post them on your home office door. You will be pleasantly surprised by how effective this one step can be in reducing distractions.
Take Frequent Breaks
The other effective tip for work at home business success is to take short breaks every 20-30 minutes. This is something it took me a long time to learn, but it makes all the difference in my productivity. Take five minutes off to go get a bite to eat or take a quick walk around your yard. When you return and resume working, you’ll be more focused and less anxious. The work will flow effortlessly.
Work at home businesses can be rewarding and enjoyable. I hope I’ve convinced you that they also demand a level of discipline and focus that traditional work environments do not require. Be prepared as you embark on your own home business to deal with the distractions so they don’t wreck your new venture.