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. <ol> <li>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. </li> <li>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. </li> <li>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. </li> <li>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.</li> </ol> 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. 2008-04-23T15:28:02Z