Working from home is a great way to get work done, it provides amazing flexibility and is extremely productive. You do have to apply yourself and work with a great degree of discipline and make a habit of it. As the saying goes ‘it takes 21 days to form a habit’, make sure it is the right one!
When you are establishing your routines, make them achievable and then ramp them up. People are typically creatures of habit so build that in to your day, have breaks set aside and don’t skimp on them. You will soon establish how you need to time those breaks and then commit to working solidly during these periods. It is normal to day dream and to miss deadlines that you place on yourself. Do not be too hard on yourself.
If you were in an office, I am sure you have been caught up in conversations or interruptions that take you off course and you have to compensate to get back on track. This is a normal experience and part of life’s stressors. Allow yourself the time that it takes for a routine to establish itself and them continue with that and make small changes as necessary.
Working from home in my experience and speaking with other entrepreneurially minded nurses, having some sort of framework or discipline in your life will assist you to stay focussed on your work goals. If you have a hobby or exercise that you do routinely, make sure you schedule that and do it. Personally, if I ignore that side of routine to my day, then the whole day becomes disordered and so flexible nothing ever gets accomplished.
Structure creates a pressure of timeliness and purpose and allocates passages of time in order to get outcomes achieved and progress made, it makes procrastination harder.
If you do not have a routine exercise or hobby, an alternative would be to share with someone significant in your life what you are going to do and by when. Be accountable to your commitments and this will provide you with the impetus to not let yourself down or have to ‘fess’ up to your nominated person you have failed to meet your commitment – ouch!
Plan out your week and book in your routine personal appointments, gym, tennis etc.
Schedule in your billing appointments
Look at your business plan and allocate the time you need to achieve your longer term goals, IE building a network, marketing,etc.
Allow for the administrative tasks that are required, IE billing , book keeping etc.
When you review the balance of time you have remaining, is there much time left, is the pace of the work you have set realistic and sustainable? If you do not have enough billing appointments then you need more time to work on the business to grow it, or conversely if you do not have enough time to do all the administrative of long term goal achieving activities maybe you need to consider outsourcing some of the work or get some assistance.
Planning and allocating your time will help you see there is little time for not working as productively as if your were in a workplace or office, remove the temptation to be distracted by keeping on plan to achieving you goals and realise your dreams.
Do you struggle with working from home or on your own?
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