Work From Home: 5 Secrets to Success

1.) Create a Work Space

You may be tempted to set up your home office on your couch or your bed, but most agree that productivity will increase when you have a designated space that allows for concentration and quiet.  Many people also suffer from the ‘leave work at work’ adage, when they are working from home.  A normal work-day schedule can be hard to attain and even harder to ‘turn off’ work when the day is over to focus on your family.  If you have a space that can be left alone and returned to during your work day schedule, it will help avoid those blurred line.

2.) Find Outside Care

Set up a child-care schedule for the days you know that you will need it.  Maybe you are able to work from home some days of the work-week, or maybe you need 5 days a week child-care.   This may vary widely on what you do and what type of family support is available to you.  But…It is important to be honest about the distractions you may face when working from home and to have an action plan to keep your children occupied and productive during the timeframes that you need to focus on work.

3.) Structure and Organize Your Day

It may sound obvious, but sticking to a regular, consistent routine will boost productivity and create a new normal for you and your family as you adjust to working from home.  Just as setting a bedtime and wake-up time is important to feeling energized, having a start and end time for your work-day can help with the adjusting to working at home.  Get up, get dressed, and get ready to start your day the same as you would if you were commuting into an office.  Also, by getting ready and adhering to a schedule (the same as you would if you were working outside the home) may help your family members and children remember that you ARE working, even though you’re physically at home.

4.) Stay Focused

Being at home adds a new layer of distraction that you haven’t encountered before.  That stack of dirty dishes in the sink or pile of laundry in the hamper or dust on the blinds may be calling your name.  Don’t allow the household chores to distract you from your work schedule.  Keep to your work schedule and when your mind wanders to the house around you, quickly acknowledge or make a to-do household chore list that you can come back to after the work-day is over.  And if you have items that just can’t wait, schedule them into your break schedule or lunch time hour.

5.) Recharge Your Internal Batteries

Since you’re making a detailed work schedule to adhere to, make sure you build in an hour or so for some down-time at the end of the work day to make the transition from work to personal time.  Knowing you have this time built into your day can help with your focus through-out the day and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed and the urge to power right through all hours of the day.  Whether you use that hour to meditate, or go for a walk, or catch up on the news or chat with a friend by phone or face-time, that hour will boost your energy level and that will benefit everyone living in your house.