Staying Focused While Working at Home
When staying at home to work it can be very easy to become distracted. If there are others in the house or things need to get done around the house the mind can start to wander and forget about the task at hand. Also if you are working your business on a computer surfing onto other sites and checking email may become distracting to you.
Some things you can do to avoid this might be to have a list ready at the beginning of each work day of all the things you would like to accomplish. When these tasks are finished you can cross them off the list and have a visual reminder of how the day is going and what is being accomplished.
Check your email once in the morning then make sure it is off while you are working. It is so easy to keep clicking over to check your email when it is sitting open on your desktop, especially if you have audible or visual notifications when an email arrives. Check it two or three times a day so it does not get in the way of business.
Kids running around can be the ultimate distraction. They are usually the reason one stays home to work but it can also be very difficult to get things done, especially if they are young and require a lot of care. One way around this is to work when they are sleeping or when the other parent can entertain them for a while. Taking a couple hours a day to get some real work done should not be too difficult once you work out a schedule around the children.
Surfing the internet or the television can be a big distraction also. It is so easy to stumble upon a website that looks interesting and keeps you occupied for a half an hour before you even realize you stopped working. Make sure you know exactly what sites you need to be on while working and do not wander anywhere else until the task at hand is complete.
Basically, the solution for not losing focus in your work at home business is to find a quiet room to be alone, turn off the television, have your to do list handy and keep the email turned off until all the work is completed. Sending the kids off with a loved one, if you absolutely need to, could also be something to consider.
If any of these things are preventing you from building your business, it is time to step back and figure out what needs to change. Once you set up a schedule and follow it things will move along smoothly day after day. That does not mean you cannot take a day off though, to do the things you want.
As a matter of fact, a day off here and there is essential to keep your mind focused, especially in the early days of building your home business.
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2 Comments:
Tara,
Very good post. I see myself sometimes getting distracted. I love the idea of making a list and taking care of the objective.
Thank you,
Matt Belock
Start A Internet Home Based Business
Hi Tara,
This will be an important subject for a lot of people working at home on the Internet!
Scheduling and writing a "to do" are both useful. If you now that people are going to be in the house, especially kids, concentrate on "low maintenance" tasks such as: commenting on blogs (!); Stumbleupon; traffic exchanges; adding your site to directories; forum comments. None of these requires a lot of commitment and each can be broken off and resumed at the drop of a hat - or the interruption of a child! Save high maintenance tasks like article writing, website work etc for the times when you are "home alone" if possible...
David Hurley
http://grasp-the-nettle.com
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