Working from home is more and more common, especially when it comes to Internet professionals or people starting their own business. No longer does a home office mean you’re not established, rather it means you’re able to take advantage of many tools bridging the perceived inefficiency of a home office, or staff in different places.
Some of the Matan Media team work remotely and find there are many distractions to cope with and finding ways to combat them is not always easy. Just asking our co-workers alone, we came up with a list of twenty distractions that our team find themselves confronted with on a daily basis. For some, it is neighborhood construction, connection issues or the family pet that have their mind wondering, for others it’s the perception of others that working from home isn’t really working. No matter which of these issues you find yourself faced with, here are some tools to help you keep focused on the task in hand.
Set Goals
Don’t let your goals roll over from day to week to month, set realistic goals that you know you will be able to complete in the time allowed. When you’re done, check them off. Some people use a spreadsheet to keep track of their tasks, others use a good old fashioned pen and paper, but be sure to cross off those completed tasks. Looking back at a list of completed tasks is good for job satisfaction. Don’t under estimate the value of keeping track of the tasks you have on your plate.Time Management
This is much more than just a buzz phrase, and techniques can lie deeper than allocating time for different clients. If you need to allocate two hours a day for communication, do. This may sound a little rigid, but think of all the times that a co-worker has interrupted a task with a short or simple question and an hour later you find yourself in the midst of an IM conversation or unexpected research. More often than not, this need not take you away from the work you need to complete for a deadline and could have waited till you were done.Set your IM status appropriately
You may feel that your co workers and clients need to reach you all the time, or not want to limit your availability, but if you are focused on something, on the phone, or even at lunch, set your Instant Messenger Status to tell others you are busy. This tells your co workers that now is not a good time, and you can focus on the task in hand until it is complete.Use Time Boxing
Time boxing sets an available time period, or box, to work on a particular task or project. In that time, do your best to complete it, rather than working on the same task until it is done. If you run over your allocated time box, set another 30 minutes later in the day, or tomorrow, to complete the task in hand. This concept is borrowed from the world of programming, but is useful to keep your day and tasks fresh and varied.Create a Healthy and Comfortable Work Environment
A clean work environment promotes efficiency, but as well as straightening all your paper at the end of your work day, have a good office chair, and keep a bottle of water in your work space. Walking to the kitchen for a glass of water might not take long - but you could open yourself up to unexpected distractions. Keeping hydrated can also prevent you from feeling tired as the work day progresses.Routine
Every job has some boring, repetitive or mundane tasks, set aside a time to get these done rather than letting them pile up and become too much to manage.
Plan B
Possibly most important of all, have a Plan B. Know where to go if your home office becomes unavailable. This sounds like it is unlikely, but no one plans for a power outage or a burst water main. If you meet co workers in coffee shops for meetings, make sure they have enough outlets, or have an outlet strip you can use. The chances are, you won’t be the only people in the coffee shop, so in an ideal situation, have a backup location in mind.
This blog post was written by Yosef Silver based on a workshop by Matan Media’s CEO and Co-founder, Paul Gladstone. You can follow Matan Media on Twitter @matanmedia.
