When people hear working from home, the picture that
first comes to mind is sleeping in late, lazing around the house in pyjamas and
hot pants, home cooked meals at leisure and flipping the channels to catch up
with the latest series any time you are bored with work. On the contrary
working from home and succeeding at it is not for the faint hearted.
It is has its perks (being your own boss, determining
the volume of work, working whenever you like, minimal human contact,
flexibility to connect with your core values among others) but needs laser
sharp focus and utmost professionalism.
For productivity when working from home, you should
draw a fine line between work and home life. When this line gets blurred
nothing much will be achieved making the whole idea a flop. The excitement and
enthusiasm you started your work-at-home journey with should carry on every
day. Otherwise your journey will lead you back to the office.
When one day you take a plunge and decide to convert
one room in your house to an office, here are some pointer guaranteed to make
your quest a success if only you follow them.
You should
be organised
Falling prey to distractions while working from home
is very easy. To make deliberate concentrated efforts that will lead to success
you will need to get organised by creating a schedule to follow on a daily
basis. It will help you to be consistent
with business hours and help you strike a life-work balance. Another key importance of a routine is that
it helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses. Through a routine you can
set up your optimum working hours. These are hours when you are most
productive. You can schedule your less productive hours for something else
other than work.
A schedule will help you handle each project at a time
eliminating any chance of multitasking. Handling many project at the same time
will burn you out.
You should
have a designated work station
This could be an extra room or an idle space that you
convert to your work station. When you are working from home any place you
chose to work from is ideal so long as you focus. However having a designated
work station where you can store your files, stationary and reference materials
is paramount for success. It makes work flow easy in case you have to follow up
on old projects or researching for new ones. The location of the work station
is also crucial. It should mimic a true working environment free from the
television, pets, family members and any other kind of distraction.
You should
be computer savvy.
Familiarize yourself with the latest technology. You
will have minimal physical contact you’re your colleagues or clients. Since
most of the time you will be using your computer for communication and to carry
out most of your tasks, you should have ample knowledge on computers. You
should know the necessary soft wares needed in your line of work and be able to
use the mediums of technology that are available for online communication. You
should be abreast with basic computer troubleshooting to so as to be able to
keep your computer running smoothly and be able to bring it back up in short
time frames in case of minor break downs.
Polish Your
Communication Skills
Phone and e-mail etiquette are crucial for the success
of any business. Businesses conducted from home are no exception. In fact
people working from home should have A grade communication skills considering
most of the time they will be communicating remotely with clients and
colleagues. This means that you will not enjoy the visual and verbal cues that
help to guide communication hen engaging people physically. Phone calls and
face time on Skype have helped to ease communication but do not match
one-on-one communication. Good
communication skill will help to communicate exactly what you mean Cleary and
concisely.
Remember to
take breaks.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Working
from home comes with some comfort . This might tempt you to work all day
nonstop. As you create your structure to work from home include breaks in your
schedule. Even in offices people take breaks. Working nonstop will make you
exhausted and end up not achieving anything. Work in small spurts and take
breaks in between to refresh. Set realistic goals for each spurt and you will
make enormous stride over all.
Limit the
number of times you check your emails.
When working from home you are alone. You figure out
most staff by yourself. There are no colleagues sited next to you for
consultation. This might make you feel disconnected and left out. You end up
checking your mails every so often to make sure you are in the loop. This is a
distraction too. You end up wasting a lot of time cumulative. This time could
have been channelled on important tasks or projects.
Woking from home is no easy feat. Succeeding or
failing depend purely on the individual’s discipline and independence when it
comes to administrative issues. It might take you time to garner up the
discipline to set up a structure for your home office and follow it but it is
definitely worth it. Those who have kept
focus and have succeeded at working from home would never dream of going back
to the office setting.
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