Working from Home and Procrastination
Working from home can be terrific no matter what job you actually do from home. Working from home can improve your quality of life by saving you time, less stress, less office politics and more family time. Unfortunately there are some pitfalls to working from home though they can be avoided with some effort.
Procrastination (and the guilt associated with it) is the biggest threat to anyone who works from home. I can idle my time reading the newspaper, surfing the internet, playing a video game, listening to music, taking a nap and so on - and you can do all of it without worrying if some co-worker is going to pop in on you. This is especially true if you work from home and are self-employed as opposed to tele-commuting.
There are some very simple ways to cut down on the amount of procrastination in your day and adding more productivity to it. If you are a procrastinator you need to map out your week. There are certain things you need to do every week and/or day and using something as simple as Google calendar to populate your whole year with these tasks is simple. So step 1 is to get Google calendar. Print out each week or month and tape it up near where you work. Get in the habit of tackling some of your main tasks first thing so if you do waste some time later at least you will not feel as bad about it.
Another free program that I have found incredibly useful in helping me organize my days and my goals is Evernote. Evernote allows you to type notes, add parts of web pages, add audio notes, pictures, videos into one place (consider it your online legal pad). Evernote can be accessed on any computer that has internet and has an iphone application. This can help me keep my desk organized and not have a million sticky notes and stray pieces of paper lying around. Organizing your work and your workspace can make you more productive.
So much of the pitfalls of working from home can come from lacking organization and having clear goals. You must write down your goals and set a time-line for them. If your goals are long term add a reward to them to keep you motivated. A reward can be a night on the town, or a day off or a large purchase. If you set long term goals also set short term milestones so you are able to track your progress.
I write about a lot of dull subjects (see Basement Floor Paint) but I stay focused by mixing up my work by writing articleslike this one.
As you cut down on your procrastination you will find that so much of your productivity has to do with attitude. Your attitude about work, your attitude about your skill set and abilities. As you become more productive in working from home you will actually begin to enjoy your work more and even enjoy the few times you do slack off. Remember the rewards are not just in a job well done but also in the financial reward and quality of life that a successful work at home job brings.
Procrastination (and the guilt associated with it) is the biggest threat to anyone who works from home. I can idle my time reading the newspaper, surfing the internet, playing a video game, listening to music, taking a nap and so on - and you can do all of it without worrying if some co-worker is going to pop in on you. This is especially true if you work from home and are self-employed as opposed to tele-commuting.
There are some very simple ways to cut down on the amount of procrastination in your day and adding more productivity to it. If you are a procrastinator you need to map out your week. There are certain things you need to do every week and/or day and using something as simple as Google calendar to populate your whole year with these tasks is simple. So step 1 is to get Google calendar. Print out each week or month and tape it up near where you work. Get in the habit of tackling some of your main tasks first thing so if you do waste some time later at least you will not feel as bad about it.
Another free program that I have found incredibly useful in helping me organize my days and my goals is Evernote. Evernote allows you to type notes, add parts of web pages, add audio notes, pictures, videos into one place (consider it your online legal pad). Evernote can be accessed on any computer that has internet and has an iphone application. This can help me keep my desk organized and not have a million sticky notes and stray pieces of paper lying around. Organizing your work and your workspace can make you more productive.
So much of the pitfalls of working from home can come from lacking organization and having clear goals. You must write down your goals and set a time-line for them. If your goals are long term add a reward to them to keep you motivated. A reward can be a night on the town, or a day off or a large purchase. If you set long term goals also set short term milestones so you are able to track your progress.
I write about a lot of dull subjects (see Basement Floor Paint) but I stay focused by mixing up my work by writing articleslike this one.
As you cut down on your procrastination you will find that so much of your productivity has to do with attitude. Your attitude about work, your attitude about your skill set and abilities. As you become more productive in working from home you will actually begin to enjoy your work more and even enjoy the few times you do slack off. Remember the rewards are not just in a job well done but also in the financial reward and quality of life that a successful work at home job brings.
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