Great Tools to Help You Work at Home Efficiently

You have found a way to work from home and are simply delirious with the newfound freedom and all the little perks.  Think about it!  Only a few feet separate you from your fridge, packed with tasty goodies; your adoring canine is perched at your feet while you work; you can have a leisurely breakfast with the kids and actually have time to really interact with them without having that one eye glued to your watch; you can work in your bathrobe and fuzzy slippers. 

You have it made in the shade – or do you? Here are some great tools to help you efficiently and keep a good thing going!

Become Your Own Boss

Sure, you are finally free from the clutches of your employer, but this does not mean that you can be foot loose and fancy free!  No, you still need to have a boss who will keep your feet to the fire and make you work efficiently.  Since you have nobody else to look to but yourself, you will need to become the boss and set the deadlines.  This means telling your adorable little dog “no” when he wants to go for a run in the middle of your workday.  If it is your lunchtime, he may have a chance, but if it is not break time, you will not be able to leave. So take your time management serious, and set a real life schedule for you encompassing break times, lunch times, and deadlines for your projects as they come due. 

Learn To Say “No”

Once word spreads that you are working from home, you would be surprised how many telephone calls you will receive.  Someone might need a ride, a babysitter, a favor, an errand run, or simply wants to idly chat.  While they may not understand that this will interfere with your work schedule, they do reason that you can just get back to what you were doing later, or can you?  You will need to say “no” to those favors that will interfere with your deadlines.  Remember, you are not working from home to accommodate others but to accommodate your own family first. Similarly, don’t be tempted by a temporary snag in your imagination or a momentary instance of writer’s block to just go ahead and do some housework to loosen up.  Before you know it, you will have spent your day doing laundry, dusting, and mowing the yard rather than focusing on your work

Buy the Tools You Need

If you foresee doing a lot of work on the Internet, you will have to have a computer, which is up to date with respect to software and also hardware.  Do not be slowed down by a lack of memory, old equipment, or a slower than molasses in winter dial up connection.  Instead, write down what you need, estimate the costs, and work them into your budget.  You will be rewarded with higher productivity, less frustration, and met deadlines.

Involve Your Family

While you are the one who is actually doing the work, your efficiency depends in large part on your family’s cooperation.  Your children need to understand that your presence in the home does not mean that you can be disturbed at any given moment simply because they are bored.  While this may not come up as often during the school year, it will most certainly come to a head during summer and winter vacations.  Similarly, your spouse needs to understand that your being at home does not mean that you can drive the forgotten lunch over to the office, pick up the dry cleaning on the way home, or take the family cat to the veterinarian while you’re out and about.  Instead, your family needs to understand what it means to work from home, what it does not mean, and what you need from them to efficiently get your work done, so that you can enjoy time with them.

Have a Time Clock

Ok, so you don’t have to clock in and out anymore, but a time clock is a powerful reminder when your workday is done.  The temptation to just keep going while you are on a roll is extreme, and while this shows that you have a great work ethic, it will get you to burn out quicker than anything else.  So have a structured beginning of your workday but also a structured end!