Are you one of the millions of people wishing they could get just a few more hours in the day? If you had an extra hour every day, what would you do with it? Sleep? Spend it with family and friends? Invest it back into your business? Use it on a hobby? Whatever the answer may be, the aim of this series of blog posts is to help you create an hour (or more) of free time for you to use as you wish, by creating a more productive lifestyle.
Working from home is serious business and it takes a level of dedication most people who work outside the home wouldn’t be able to handle. It also comes with its own set of problems—and that’s why I have written these blog posts to help you. While we can’t stop your friends and family from calling or stopping by during your work hours, we can help you set
yourself up for success.In this series og blog posts, we’ll cover why most people struggle to stay productive, how to setup the perfect home office atmosphere, even if you don’t have a spare room in your home; and then we’ll share our favorite productivity tips to help you make the most the of the time you do have available to. So lets get to it.
WHY MOST PEOPLE STRUGGLE TO STAY PRODUCTIVE
There are two big reasons why people struggle to stay productive: distractions and lack of motivation.
ELIMINATING THE DISTRACTIONS
This is certainly easier said than done, especially if you’re a work-at-home parent. After all, the point of working at home is to be available for your family when they need you, right?
WRITE OUT A LIST OF POTENTIAL DISTRACTIONS
Sit down and write out an honest list of things that distract you while you work. For most of us, this list could include things such as: email, social media, texts, phone calls, instant messages, and the kids.
KEEP THE LIST IN YOUR WORK AREA
Keeping this list somewhere in your work area will help you recognize the distractions before they become a problem. For example, close your email box and only check it at predetermined times during the day. Sign out of all instant messengers. Turn the phone on silent. Make sure the children are occupied for a little while. Taking these steps means you are
consciously making the effort to remove the distractions and focus.
TALK TO OTHERS AROUND YOU
When your friends and family members learn to respect your work time, this makes things a lot easier for you. Talk to your spouse and children (if they’re old enough to understand) about the time you’ve dedicated to work your hours. It is best if the people in your life can treat your workat- home job as if you did not set your own hours. They need to see it as a traditional job with set hours, during which they leave you alone. They wouldn’t call you at the office 15 times in three hours if they knew your boss was around, would they? Give the people in your home some sort of signal when you’re working, so they know to leave you alone unless it is an emergency. For instance, if you have office, keep the door closed when you’re working. The closed door is the sign your family needs to leave you alone.<img class="alignright" src="http://i.istockimg tamiflu online.com/file_thumbview_approve/15157968/2/stock-photo-15157968-marketing-in-the-movement.jpg” alt=”www.mike-hynes.com” width=”154″ height=”97″ />
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Being productive is a skill. Any skill you obtain will require practice and repetition to fine tune and perfect. Even the most productive people will become distracted from time to time. If you find yourself becoming distracted, take a few minutes to center yourself and refocus yourself on your commitment to your client, and your business. Then, get back to work. Eventually, it will become easier for you to re-center and focus each time you get distracted, which in turn makes it easier to stay focused.
FINDING THE MOTIVATIONAL SPARK
No matter how much you will it done, the work you have to do isn’t going to do itself. Finding your motivation will be easier on some days than others, but the key is to make sure you can get to that motivation when you need it the most.
CREATE AN “EMERGENCY SITUATION”
When you create an emergency because you know the project is on the last hours before its due, you’re going to get more done in those last few hours than you did in the days before. If you can fake yourself out into an emergency situation, you’ll get more done than if you tell yourself you have a few days and it can wait.
JUST SIT DOWN AND DO IT
No more excuses. Sit down at your work area, and do what needs to be done. Once you finally bite the bullet and get over whatever it is that was stopping you from starting the project in the first place, you will find it easier to get more done than you thought. If you still find yourself having trouble, think about the reasons why you love this project. Even if it’s the most boring project in the world and you loathe it, it has to be done, and there’s something that will make you love it—even if it’s what you can do when it’s done. And, when it gets finished, you’ll be able to cross it off your to-do list, and move onto something you enjoy more.
Plus, when the project is complete, that’s money in the bank. Money you need to pay your bills. If the idea of getting the payment still doesn’t motivate you—think about what life would be like if you were in the corporate would, and what your boss would say if you were like this at your traditional job. Most of the time, the motivation to work will come at the very least, out of the desire not to go back to the traditional clock job. Now that you know what hinders your productivity and what you can do about it, let’s move onto building the ideal work environment, to help keep you as productive as possible.
I do hope my first blog post on on keeping you motivated was of interest to you. I will continue the series in my next post.
