if you work from home

How do you keep yourself focused? I'm going to be working from home for the next few weeks and basically doing work in my own time and I can just see myself loosing focus. How do you keep your mind on track?

Re: if you work from home

Uggh..it's so hard.

I have zero work-life balance and I find that without the little distractions at work (talking to people, etc), i get distracted by everything. I woud say structure yiur day INCLUDING some time to just go for a walk or relax, etc.

if you work from home

It's very hard! I am still sort of experimenting- I quit my job to freelance full-time. So far, I find I'm most effective when I break my work into 45 minute chunks with a 15 minute break. Since all my work's on the computer, I take the dog out, putter around the house a little, flip through a magazine, make a coffee, anything to decompress for a few minutes. I put on music when I work, which helps, as long as it's not too stimulating, usually I stream WFUV.

Like everything, it's really a learned skill. You'll struggle at first probably, but then you'll hit your stride and figure out what works best for you.

Message edited 9/4/2012 3:49:10 PM.

Re: if you work from home

I work from home a lot, when I am not out on appointments.

I think it helps to have a dedicated work area (versus just lounging on the couch with a laptop or something). We use our third bedroom as a home office/guest room, so I have a desk in there with a computer, and I can shut the door to block out noise, take a call, etc. But I think even a corner of a room set up with a work station (or I've seen -- in various magazines, Pinterest, etc. people create work stations with desks, shelves, etc. out of CLOSETS). But the idea is to have a space reserved for work in your house so that it's harder to blur the lines between doing work and relaxing at home. You will subconsiously click into "work mode" when you are in the office area.

If you need to put in a full-time work day at home, I think sticking to a similar routine as you would if you worked out of the house (getting up, showering, getting dressed, eating breakfast, getting to your desk by 8 am or 9 am or whatever) would make sense. I work more on my own schedule and don't have set hours, but I find making a "to-do" list of what I want to accomplish that day helps to keep me on track.

Finally, make sure that others know that when you are working from home, you are working. I have my mom watch my son, and sometimes they are home when I work, but I make it clear that I don't want to be disturbed! It can be tempting to get involved in a conversation or an issue that's going on at home and that takes time away from what needs to be done, work-wise.