Productivity is what distinguishes the average from the great. It is a challenge businesses have to grapple with on a daily basis, hence the increased use of time tracking and employee scheduling tools. Home-based businesses face unique productivity challenges. With no one directly supervising you and the freedom to do what you want to do, it’s fairly easy to lose focus.
Switching on the TV to catch your favorite show, entertaining visiting friends for hours on end, and the urge to sleep an hour or two longer than office-going workers are examples of things that can make it harder for you to be productive. The following tips can help you regain your bearing and consistently meet the goals of your home-based business.
1. Develop a To-Do List
You cannot really achieve your work goals if you do not know what they are and what steps will be needed to get there. A to-do list will provide structure to your milestones. To create this list, start by developing your short, medium and long-term strategic goals. Transform these into goals that you’ll break down into tasks. Separate the tasks into daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual as is appropriate.
Place this task list on your home office desk, save it as a file on your phone or even input the tasks into one of the many to-do list smartphone apps in the market today. Apps and similar electronic tools are convenient because they allow you to regularly extract reports that show how your actions measure against your targets.
2. Avoid Distractions
This is perhaps the biggest headache for a home-based entrepreneur. There will always be something calling for your attention and pulling you away from doing what you set out to do that day. For best results, set up mechanisms that make it difficult for you to get caught up in an unproductive activity.
For instance, your home office should be in a dedicated room so you can shut the door to everyone else when you are working. Schedule any physical business meetings away from the home. Unless an emergency demands it, avoid inviting friends or extended family to your home during your working hours. Turn off social media notifications on your phone (mainly Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter).
3. Take a Break
One of the great things about working from home is that you can literally wake up from your bed, walk straight to your desk and start working immediately. When you are overwhelmed with work and rushing to beat deadlines, there’ll be a strong urge to spend the entire day at your desk. However, putting in numerous hours doesn’t necessarily mean you are productive.
The human body has finite energy and your mind can focus on an activity for only so long. Taking a break gives you an opportunity to refocus and reenergize, thus boosting productivity. It could mean taking a coffee or water break, having a brief chat with someone in the home (such as a spouse or child) or returning a missed call.
If work is almost always overwhelming, consider hiring an additional pair of hands through a professional employer organization (PEO) such as digitalexits.com. That way, you’ll know work won’t stop during your break.
4. Make the Most of Technology
I mentioned in the first point how there are now to-do list apps that can help you keep track of your tasks. In fact, there are a whole lot of free or low-cost tools out there that are geared toward maximizing productivity.
They include communication apps, time management apps, cloud document management apps and project management apps. There are also tools that do not directly relate to your work but help you have the right state of mind to be productive. These include fitness apps, meditation apps, sleep control apps and dieting apps.
Running a home-based business is a challenging and sometimes lonely undertaking that takes plenty of discipline and self-control. These productivity tips can help you avoid common failings and stay on the path toward building a successful home-based business.
