If you've ever spent a day being busy, but at the end of the day haven't accomplished anything on your working palette, you fell into the "or not" category.
You weren't focused on what was most important to you.
Even if you have set up work hours and respect them, your productivity will soar only when you can sit down, know exactly what you are going to do first, and immediately START. No time is wasted. You've already done your thinking and you know exactly what you plan to get done. You've identified a roadmap to guide you through the day's projects.
Most of us rarely have only one item on our work minds. We may have projects we identify as "work," but it is likely that we also have marketing to do, and bookkeeping, reading, e-mails to respond to and calls to make. You can focus on what's most important to you in the moment, if you identify times to return e-mails or do the reading that is piling up. But first do the WORK! If you are a writer, write first. If you are a consultant, return clients' calls first. If you manage web sites - you got it - do it first. Take the time to set up a roadmap before your work hours begin (either in the morning, or at the end of the previous day) reserving the largest chunk of your personal prime time for your most important work!
So, a typical roadmap for a writer whose high energy time is in the morning might look like this:
- 8-8:30 - Check overnight e-mails and plug any emergencies into your roadmap
- 8:30-12 - Prime time -- Write an article, or two blog entries or one chapter (be specific).
- 12-1 - Return calls, e-mails
- 1-2 - Lunch or errands
- 2-3 - Marketing or finances
- 4 - Career related reading (low energy time)
Everyone's roadmap will be different, but the goal is the same... a quick start to your work-from-home day that will focus on your most important work, while still covering all the bases of being in business.
If anyone would like to share their roadmap (or plan, or schedule) I'd love to see them!
The work from home concept is both new and old for me. Having occasionally worked from home with my former employer, is one thing. But as an entrepreneur time constraints seem more difficult to manage. Especially since I basically 'fell' into business. It happened out of necessity, but for not-so-typical reasons. My up time is generally now generally late night into the early morning hours. The perfect interruption free time. Personal family reasons make creating a solid schedule nearly impossible. So the idea of overflow hours & a road maps a wonderful because they allow for guilt-free (& productive) detours as needed.
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