Tips for Boosting Workspace Productivity
4 “stay productive” methods that keep me focused on work
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As a writer who
works from home, I understandably suffer bouts of being unproductive—when the
house is a mess, when my kids are home from school, on the days I’m just
unmotivated and procrastinating. I suffer from productivity loss at home just
like folks at the office suffer in large and small corporate offices.
Home businesses are no different—however when you’re attempting to balance a
full time job with another full time job (parenting), things can get a little
hairy when it comes to staying focused on work. Since I’ve been working at home for some time now (I’m by
no means perfectly focused), but I do have a few “stay productive” tips that
I’d like to share….
1. Carve out a space that’s dedicated to
work
That means, don’t
make the mistake I did and spend the first month working from home from your
kitchen table and wondering “why am I not productive?” No, in order to
encourage healthy focus; one needs to set the atmosphere of healthy focus early
on. And by that I mean setting up a space that’s completely dedicated to your
work. You have an office or cubicle when you’re working for someone else,
right? Do the same for yourself (preferably in a space with a door that closes)
and you will find that you’re better able to concentrate on the work at
hand—and not the kids, the laundry, and all the other things around the home.
2. Work with your working style
When I started my
home business I had these grand ideas about waking up real early and working my
day so I could quit work early to go to the gym and have dinner ready for the
family when they got home. The reality of that whole “ideal” scenario is that
I’m not a morning person, I’ve never been a morning person, and I’m never
likely to start being a morning person. The moral of that story is to stay
realistic and work with what you got. That means taking a good hard look at your own limitations, accepting them and creating your new work
life based around that reality. I’ve since learned to accept my own quirks and
even learned to rely on experts for things that I’m not so good at (i.e., my
business accounting) so I can focus my productivity on what I’m good at and
enjoy (i.e., writing).
3. Get your inspiration from external sources
As a writer, I work
on my own for most of the day. That means when I get a little stifled
creatively, I have to look to external sources for inspiration—such as my
friends and family, other business professionals in my field, my clients, and
yes, even my competitors. They’ve all got lessons to teach. When I go for my
daily runs, I use this time to soak in and refuel—from advertisements on the
subway to conversations over coffee with my weekly book club—I’m constantly
looking for sources of inspiration to help refuel my professional life. I take
these experiences and work them into my stories and my creative ideas.
4. Be easier on yourself
Come on, no one is
perfect, and we can’t be good at everything we try and successful when it comes
to every single work project we touch. As a business owner, I’m still
constantly learning and perfecting my skills every single day. If I were to
concentrate on the negative all the time (i.e., the days I have to neglect work
to pick up my sick child from school or the days I have to neglect my children
to finish and important client project), I’d be criticizing myself
constantly—which is hardly productive. Instead, I aim for a healthy balance and
when I’m feeling stressed, I learn to say no. I’ve also incorporated tools to
help make my job easier—office tools like my handy little electronic
transcription let me transcribe interviews into Word documents digitally,
because let’s face it, otherwise it would never get done. I also purchased one
of those glass white boards to keep
office paper work off my desk, otherwise I’d be swimming in paperwork, and
clutter really staunches my creative juices.
About The Author
Angela is a staff
writer for Apron Addicts, a blog about
kitchen fashion and home style. Angela also likes to write about mobile
technology, business, productivity, and anything else that catches her
attention.
Thanks Angela for
sharing your tips. It surely helps every woman who prefers to work from home. Now I know what to do :)