Getting Organized To Work from Home.

Productivity and Organization is the key to a successful business. This is especially the case if you work from home and have all the added distractions of home life right there beside you (behind you, in front of you - you get the point).  So, you will need to organize your home life better than the next person. It is nearly impossible to perform at your best if there are a zillion things you need to organize on the home front. The secret to being more effective in your professional life is to organize yourself from the ground up.  Here are some tips that I have found to help when working from home:

Reprioritize your ‘To do’ list

We all know we could be more effective if only we were ‘on top of’ our personal and home lives but often don’t make headway in these areas because these tasks often come last on our ‘To Do’ lists. It’s important not to underestimate what a difference home organization can make, particularly if it is also your work place. Don’t 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. Start by 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 there and 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 routine you will be able to continually, de-clutter and alleviate 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, and then triple it and you will be close to the extra paperwork you will have to deal with if you work from home. Often it is how we deal with this extra paperwork 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 important items or recycle them straight away if they are irrelevant to you, no matter how interesting they may be. There simply won’t be time to read all of it and you don’t want it clogging up your home office or messing with your focus.

Get the basics down on paper in the one place

You should start with the most basic information you need to sort through in the short, medium and long term. The topics can be as simple as ‘what you have loaned people’; ‘websites to re-visit’, ‘books to read’ or 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 will 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 example a 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 because you get 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, and you literally free up more time for yourself.

Regularly mind dump

Another important point that some people underestimate is that it’s vital to clear our mind of all the ‘stuff’ that we store up top that doesn’t have to be there  - which we often forget when we need it 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 headspace.

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 even make a difference to the way you talk on the phone and therefore the outcome of your calls. Be professional in all areas, as you would if you had a business with customers seeing you every day.

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 times yourself.  Discipline is needed so you are not tempted to go off for a coffee with a friend more often than you should.

Work rhythms

Work at the time of the day when you are most productive. If you are a night owl then arrange your work time 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 only when it suits you, rather than when you’re in the middle of something important. Try to make calls rather than take calls.  Where possible, take care of things via email if you can as opposed to time-consuming meetings/phone calls.

Don’t forget your family & friends

When working from home, remember to factor in your family’s needs 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 example, 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”, 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 or be taking phone calls for work. Sometimes it may be necessary to re-asses your workload and cut back to spend more quality time with your 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