Ideas to stay Focused and on Purpose

When you first bring your profession home and begin your stay at home business, you will soon yearn for that tiny little cubicle that you had when you were at an office working for someone else. At least when you were in your own cubicle, you were able to turn your back on impositions and get your work done. However, in an at home atmosphere, this does not always happen. When working for an employer, usually it was a nine to five job where your productivity did not have that much influence on your paycheck at the end of the week. This is not so with your own business. Your salary is DIRECTLY proportional to your productivity. You will need to learn early on in your business how to combat these interruptions, stay focused and on task or you will not be in business for yourself for very long.

To be able to overcome your distractions, you will need to recognize where they are coming from. Are they self imposed or are they from family and friends? One self-imposed distraction that can be extremely disruptive is procrastination. It is also easy to fall off task when we have too many interests and try to do all of them at once. This may seem like multi-tasking but really you are just spinning your wheels and exhausting yourself. Self-inflicted distractions are the most difficult to conquer but it can be done. By following a few simple steps, you will have no problem winning against the time wasters.

1. Quiet Time: It is not necessary to step into your office and become involved in the first task on hand immediately. Take a moment to sit and look at your computer and look out of the window. Better yet, step outside for a moment in the morning sun and clear your mind of the daily family activities. This is what you would normally do on your commute from your home to a normal job at an office. Take ten minutes in the morning to begin the transition from family/house life to work life. Begin to think about the projects that are a priority for the day.

2. Create a To Do List: After you have spent a moment "commuting" to work, begin to create a to do list of the projects and tasks that need to be done. It is okay to add to this list throughout the day for additional items that you might have forgotten about. When creating your list, do not just write down a general idea of the project. Give your task a name and break it into milestones. This will eliminate procrastination and make the task easier to manage. This is especially important for long-term projects. Each time you cross off an item on your to do list, it will give you a feeling of accomplishment.

3. Have a Set Schedule for Tasks: Most employees have a set time to work such as your old "nine to five" job. It is also important to follow this same rule when working from home. Have a set time that you will begin work and close up shop at a certain time. Since you own the business, you can choose if you want to work ten hours straight through or break your day into two work periods of five hours each. Also, set a fixed time to answer your email and other daily tasks. You do not have to answer every email that comes to you within minutes of receiving it. Sometimes it is even easier to just turn off your email program all together until your set time.

4. Shut the Door! With smaller children, you will need to address each issue as the need arises. That is not so with older children. They will understand when you tell them you need to work from x to y. Hire an in-home babysitter for younger children or enlist an aunt or grandparent if possible. If the phone becomes a distraction, turn the ringer off for an hour so that you can concentrate on your task. Most of all, do not permit family and friends to distract them. Be firm with them and let them know that you are at work and cannot be disturbed for x amount of time. You will be glad you did.

The main key to successfully staying on task while working at home is to identify the problem that exists and nip it in the bud quickly.

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