Are You Productive In Your Home Office?

Did you know...statistics show every interruption takes about 6-9 minutes. After, you need an additional 4-5 minutes to get your head back in the game. With only 10 interruptions you could lose over 2 hours a day. In an office these can range from email to unscheduled calls/conferences. Working from home, well that's a different matter. It can even be more costly.

No one told me these statistics when I left the corporate world to start my own business. As a cost effective measure, I decided to work from home. I had a spare bedroom that I could convert into an office. Perfect.

Secretly I'd longed for the "flexibility" of a home office. I saw myself at work in a calm tranquil environment. In my dreams I was productive, successful and less stressed. I blissfully entered my new venture unaware of the time wasters ahead of me.

Soon reality set in. Although I'd start the day with good intentions by 10am I found myself walking the dog, doing laundry, socializing with friends and not getting work done. By the end of the day, I'd look around and wonder why I hadn't finished what I started at 8:00am...I'd had all day to do it.

Can you relate? I had to set boundaries and quick. I realized that in the corporate world boundaries are already set for us. We show up at a particular time, take lunch and go home. When I looked at my home office life, well, let's just say anything went.

Here are a couple of tips that I've used to get back on track. Several of my clients have also used them with great success.

1. Develop set working hours - set your start time, breaks and ending time, then stick to it. I'm a morning person so I start early. I try to work no more than 8 hours. Usually I work for 4 hours, then take a couple hours off and get back to it in the afternoon. This allows me to have the benefit of being at home while still being productive.
   
   
2. Communicate your working hours - it is important to communicate these hours to those inside and outside your house. When I moved closer to my sister, I was tempted to extend my "break" time. I communicated my working hours so now we meet for lunch, and I'm back in the office on time.
   
   
3. Have a door to your office - I also made sure that my office was located away from the other parts of the house. This way I have to "go to work." When things are busy around the house, I can close the door and stay focused. If you don't have a door, try anything that will separate your office from your house.
   
   
4. Make your office inspirational - There is nothing worse than trying to be creative in a dull space. Make you office a personally inspirational place. Use pictures, plants, books, etc. to invite you to be your best.

I schedule my work time, just like I did in my previous life. I make appointments, have my task lists and set timeframes to work on projects. Now the difference is I work during my peak times rather than a generic 9-5. I have achieved my original dream. All it took were a few ground rules.