While working from home, one may find it difficult to stay productive. As with any business, productivity is essential to making and maintaining a profit. Productivity in the head office must be held to the same expectations as in the corporate workplace.
It is important to identify productive activities. A to-do list should be made along with an agenda. Divide your tasks into annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals. Having an action plan set out on a daily basis allows you to check things off as you go to meet the weekly agenda. The same goes for weekly and monthly goals. Everything has to be fulfilled in order for the annual goal to be achieved.
Making a list or agenda does not have to be a difficult process. Start by writing down what you want to accomplish for that year. You know there is no way to achieve that goal on your own, so you need to break it down into smaller ones. Every smaller target in itself will have even smaller targets involved. Once you’ve set your goals, write them down on a traditional wall calendar, daily planner, or better yet, the calendar in your computer’s operating software. I recommend that you use a computer generated calendar. Both Google and Yahoo have great calendar systems that allow you to customize your day, week, month, and year. You can set push notifications to alert you of an upcoming task or event.
Be sure to include in your daily schedule; hourly breaks, personal time, family time, and recreational time. These may seem obvious, but it’s important to document them so you can pull them off. Overworking is the main cause of low productivity. When you burn yourself with tasks you’re working on for too long, you lose interest and your mind starts to wander. Don’t spend more than an hour at a time working on a given task. If that task is going to take more than an hour, take scheduled breaks so your mind can stay sharp and focused.
The most important thing is to reward yourself. As you complete certain tasks and goals, give yourself a reward. No matter what it is. Your reward can be a scoop of ice cream, going to the movies, or whatever. If your achievement was big enough to really celebrate, go to a nice restaurant with the family and explain that you’re doing this because you achieved your goal. You never know, your family might enjoy it so much that they’ll help you reach your other goals so they can do it again.
No Comment