Getting Organized To Work From Home

Set some Ground Rules

Let people know that although you will normally be ‘home’ they need to pretend you aren’t, so you can get your work done. Let everyone know your “do not interrupt me” times and make sure you stick to these yourself. Discipline may be needed here to not be tempted to go off for a coffee with a friend more often than you should.

Reprioritize Your ‘To do’ List

We all know we could be more effective if only we were ‘on top of’ our personal lives but often don’t make headway in this area because these tasks often come last on our ‘to do’ lists. It’s important not to underestimate what a difference getting organized at home. It is important not to keep ignoring small household jobs, because although the tasks may seem minor individually, when seen as a whole they add up to one enormous energy drain. So be mindful of tackling the smaller tasks one by one and gradually getting them under control. Next time you find yourself saying, “I must do this, but I don’t have time”, make yourself do it right then. Don’t believe yourself when you say ‘I’m too busy. I will do it later’ because chances are you won’t. Once this becomes part of your routine you will be much better able to continually de-clutter and cull all manner of paperwork and objects around the house and office.

Deal with your Paperwork as it comes in

Think of all the paperwork that you have around the house, then triple it and you will be close to the extra paperwork you will have to deal with if you work from home. It’s how we deal with this that can make the difference between a semi-successful or highly successful business. You need to have an efficient filing system for your business and home based paperwork to function at an optimum level.  File it straight away and recycle straight away for all the mail that is irrelevant to you no matter how interesting. There simply won’t be time to read it and it will clog up your office.

Get the basics down on Paper in the one place

You should start with the most basic information you need in the short, medium and long term. The topics can be as simple as what you have loaned people; websites to re-visit or book to read; those share tips you need to make a note of and so on  By writing all this sort of information down as the need arises, you would be amazed at how much less cluttered your head and house will feel and how much more productive you will be with your time. For e.g.:  daily ‘to do’ list with jobs as basic as – empty the dishwasher, wipe bench, water plants, make beds etc. Sounds obvious but it really helps you do jobs in clusters instead of here and there – due to being distracted by other things – the kids, the phone etc. The point of having such a list is to help keep you focused, so that you get those mundane unavoidable jobs out of the way, so you literally have more time up your sleeve later.

Regularly Mind Dump

Another important point that some people underestimate is that it’s vital to clear your mind of all the ‘stuff’ that we store up top that doesn’t have to be there  – which we often forget when needed anyway. It helps to regularly put pen to paper and write down all the bits and pieces of information that are floating around in your head. As one quote succinctly puts it “The weakest pen is better than the strongest memory.” Anon It is very energizing to do and you should also notice a marked improvement in your memory, by freeing up this much needed head space.

Get dressed for work

As tempting as it is to work in your Sloppy Joes all day –make the effort to dress smartly so that you are in work mode. Believe it or not this can make a difference to the way you talk on the phone and therefore the outcome of these calls. Be professional in all areas, as you would if you had a business with customers seeing you every day.

Work Rhythms

Work at the time of the day when you are most productive. If you are a night owl then arrange your working around this and get other things done during the day. Or vice versa if you are a great morning person then get stuck into it and chill out a bit in the afternoon. Get to know what works best for you and capitalize on it.

Set Work Priorities

Do this every day and do them in order of importance. Set a schedule & stick to it. Check emails only twice a day (have them set so they don’t interrupt you when you’re focusing on something else) Screen calls if possible so that you speak to people when it suits you rather than when in the middle of something important – Make calls – don’t take call. Where possible take care of things via email if you can (i.e. as opposed to time-consuming meetings/phone calls).

Don’t forget your Families & Friends

When working from home, remember to factor in your families needs in amongst everything because it is easy to get wrapped up in your work and not realize something needs to give until it’s too late. For e.g.: Try to work when the kids are having a daytime nap, or at night. It can be quite a trap to say to yourself, “I’ll just reply to these emails”, or “I’ll just make a couple of calls”… etc, etc and before you know it an hour or two has gone by. Be “present” when it’s family/friends time – don’t have one eye on the email/phone interruptions etc for work. It’s necessary to re-asses your workload along the way and cut back sometimes to spend more quality time with the family & friends. I desperately needed to do this after being featured on Ch9’s A Current Affair, due to being ridiculously busy for too long. It was obvious I needed to cut back for all of our sakes & so we could re-group. Perhaps you need to do the same?

Personal Time

Don’t forget to give yourself permission to have a life in amongst everything else too. A regular walk; coffee; time to read a good book etc, is all essential to your mental health & wellbeing. If the business falls over because you are working too hard, there’s often no one to fill in the gap, so take care of ‘You’ too.