How To Stay FOCUSED When Working From Home
Working from the comforts of our own home seems like the DREAM for a lot of people. This is why so many people want to learn about building an internet business – so that they too can start working from home instead of going to the dreaded office for their mundane 9 – 5 job.
However, everyone is only talking about how great working from home is. While that is true for us internet marketers and bloggers, it’s worth bearing in mind that there are A LOT of distractions. Far more distractions than if you were to work in an office environment.
So What Kind Of Distractions Are We Talking About?
For starters, there is the TV in your room. Instead of working on your business conscientiously and seriously, you watch the TV every 30 minutes. Even if you only spend 10 minutes watching it every time, it’s still a big hindrance and time-waster.
Then there is the bed beside you. Can you resist the temptation not to take a short nap? You might answer yes now because you’re on high spirits at the thought of working from home. But when the time comes to actually WORK on your business, your high energy would have wavered.
What about your kids? They will surely distract you when they talk and play with you. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t communicate and spend valuable time with your kids – you should. Bu there is another time for that.
Now let’s talk about your family members (parents, spouse, and siblings). They most likely won’t understand why you’re not working at a 9 – 5 corporate job. They don’t believe in what you’re doing and they’ll discourage you saying that earning money online is just a scam and that you’ll just be another victim. They want you to wake up from your dream and go find a job.
All these conversation means that instead of spending quality time working on your business, you spent time explaining your decision to work from home.
If you were to work in an office just like everyone else, you’re not going to face any of the distractions above.
Here’s What You Can Do To Reduce (And Possibly Eliminate) These Distractions:
- Remove the TV from your room so that you won’t waste time watching it.
- If you have an unused room, use it as your work room instead of working from your bedroom. This means there is no bed beside you.
- Isolate yourself in your room and lock the door to work seriously on your business. Take a 5-minute break every hour. Do not come out of the room if it’s not time for a break.
Additional Tips To Help You Stay Focused
Because there is no one to supervise you when you’re working from home, it’s also easy to get distracted by other stuff like chatting via instant messengers, participating in social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, browsing in forums for ages, and checking your email every 10 minutes.
You may argue that you need to spend time doing these stuff because they are all work related. But be honest with yourself. Are they really work related? Even if they are – is it worth spending all that time just to see what people are saying on the forums or social sites?
You would be better off spending your time on other much more important tasks in your business.
How Do You Determine Which Are The Most Important Tasks?
Every night before you go to bed, spend 10 minutes planning what you’re going to do the next day.
Ask yourself questions like:
- What is the ONE important thing that I know if I do it will make the greatest impact (in terms of profits) on my business?
- If I could only work for 2 hours tomorrow, what task or tasks will I work on?
Essentially, you want to identify the 20% of the work that will result in 80% of the sales (Pareto Principle). Remember, not all tasks are created equal. Some tasks are MUCH MORE important than others and should be done first.
What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #15 with Marcie Hill
What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #14 with Kathryn Lang
What’s Up, Bloggers! Roundup #13 with Bill Busbice
What’s Up Bloggers! Roundup #12 with David Trounce
{ 34 Responses }