Posts Tagged ‘Time Management’
Work With Your Own Body Clock
One of the advantages of working at home is the freedom to work with your own body clock. In the corporate world, you have very little control over your day. If you are a morning person, or a person who is most energetic earlier in the day, you will find yourself sluggish and unproductive when difficult tasks or meetings are scheduled for late in the day. If you are a night person, you may struggle to be alert for tasks that are scheduled for the morning.
As a home business owner, you have the freedom to plan around your own biological fluctuations. If you are most energetic in the morning, you can plan your most difficult or challenging tasks for first thing in the morning. If you are a night owl, you have the freedom to sleep late and tackle challenging projects after dinner, or even in the middle of the night.
The key to working with your own body clock starts with recognizing when your highest energy level is. Some people are always energetic at a certain time of day and you can almost set the clock by the time when their energy wanes and their alertness fades. Other people are less predictable, and their energy level may depend on family demands or other stressors, or may even be affected by fluctuations in their diet.
Working with your own body clock also means that you have to take responsibility for planning your day. It’s very important for a home business owner to plan ahead. The most productive days are usually days that are planned the night before. Obviously, unplanned events sometimes come up and not everything can be predetermined. But if you at least sketch out your day and plan ahead to the best of your ability, you will likely find your productivity will skyrocket.
Dealing With Distraction
The biggest challenge most people who work from home face is distraction. You may picture working at home as a stress-free life, but you may find that being able to stay disciplined and focused in the middle of constant distraction is a lot more difficult than you anticipate.
In an office environment, workers are often placed inside cubicles, probably to reduce noise and other distractions. The decision to work from home is usually at least partly motivated by wanting to get away from living inside a cubicle. You are looking for freedom: flexible hours, even a flexible location. You may imagine sitting on a beach with your laptop.
In an at-home work environment, dealing with distraction is a daily challenge. For one thing, other people tend to view a person who works from home as not really working. They will be quick to call you on the phone, or show up on your doorstep, expecting you not to be busy. And if you’re not battling other people, you may find sometimes you are battling yourself. Self-discipline and motivation take constant practice.
The belief that you can create a life free of distractions is unrealistic. Life is full of ringing phones, crying babies, and needy spouses. And if you’re able to get away from all that, you will still have to contend with noise in your head. Your mind may start running away with planning dinner or next week’s schedule. You’re curious what emails you have received in the last hour or two. Ultimately you are distracting yourself even when others aren’t distracting you.
Self-discipline and focus won’t come easily, but they will get better with time and practice. As long as you are truly committed to your goals, you will be able to deal with the distractions both inside and outside yourself.
Time Management Tips for Your Home Business
When you are dreaming of a home business, you dream of freedom – freedom from bosses and schedules. When you attain that dream, you see the reality that time is money and every minute counts.
Some days it may feel that you have worked all day and gotten nothing accomplished. When you work at home, everyone assumes you’re not busy. You may be constantly interrupted by relatives and friends who think you’re free. The phone and the doorbell interrupt constantly, and if you have small children, the last thing they want to do is leave you alone.
Here are some tips to help you get a handle on your time.
Plan ahead. Each night before you go to bed, plan ahead what your next day is going to look like. This means working with your own body clock: schedule your most challenging tasks for the time of day when you have the most energy.
Prioritize. Everything you do should be contributing to the ultimate goal of making money. It’s easy to fritter away your time opening email and surfing the web. Know what the most important things you need to accomplish each day are and do them before you ever look at your mail.
Learn from your mistakes. If you plan your day a certain way and it doesn’t work out, what went wrong? Did you try to schedule your most challenging tasks for the same time that your children are most likely to interrupt you? Do you need to turn the ringer off the phone? Whatever went wrong today can be corrected tomorrow.
Allow time for family. When you are just getting started, you may want to work on your business day and night. The more you neglect your family, the more they will interrupt you. Schedule time in your day for your family and don’t let work interrupt family time whenever possible.
Like any other aspect of running a home business, time management takes practice. The more your practice, the more you will improve.