Work at Home Productivity Tips –

by Jan Ferrante

Creating a personal productivity formula is actually quite easy.  

I recently wrote an article called Are You Going to Read or Write Today? outlining the danger of spending too much time on input (reading) instead of output (writing).

(I wrote it using my morning time pocket for writing in my Work At Home blog – I have several blogs so I rotate which blogs I write to, having more rotations for the blogs that I am more active in. Had I not, I could have easily spent the time clicking around the net).

WHAT'S STOPPING YOU? 

One of the reasons this happens is that we are not focused on the actions that we need to take to fulfill our ambitions. And the reason for that is that we don't have a plan… a personal productivity formula that we have created just for ourself.

The formula, as complicated as it sounds, can be as simple as 1 hour + 1 focus = 1 day closer to finished.

Just do it a few times through out the day and start to see results.

But what's with this inability to focus in the first place? 

I think that there may be a few underlying things going on… 

• lack of confidence in ourselves to write something as good as or better than we are reading, so we put it off.

• it's easier to read than write, so we put it off.

• we're bored with the task. In that case try hiring someone to do the mundane, or look at what you're doing, maybe you need a change.

• we're procrastinating because we have too much going on and are in a mild state of anxiety and blurred thinking, in that case, read further.

Next time you are tempted to read instead of write, to play instead of work, ask yourself what is going on and deal with the issue.

OVERWHELM – START FRESH EVERY DAY 

The next issue that crops up repeatedly is overwhelm.

Adult ADD has become a buzzword, one that came to me also a few years ago as I noticed myself loosing the ability to concentrate, to remember and to focus automatically on one thing as I used to find easy.

But is it a physical thing or is it a buzzword that we use to describe the consequence of our new world. The world of internet access and hours or days spent on the computer at home. 

It's something relatively new to the masses, especially when you add working at home, for ourselves to the mix.

It's like being a kid let loose in a candy store but being told he can only eat broccoli.  

But there is a fix and I found it very apparent this morning when I came into my office.

I hadn't shut down my computer the night before, so I had a multitude of windows open (it was rather mild, I often have more than 30, sometimes many more! It is frustrating and time consuming, a big no no!)

But I was looking at various small tasks that I hadn't completed the day before, or various sites that I like to check stats etc on.

It's almost like space garbage, stuff left floating around long after you need it with the potential to put a big whole in things if you run into it.

I found myself clicking around, pecking here and pecking there, but not really finishing anything.

It was very obvious that I wasn't "digging in" on any substantial work in any of the areas that I have targeted to be important to my success. 

I do this every day that I don't use my morning checklist (which I call my BOOST Circuit, it is my own personal productivity formula).

Sometimes I get around to the checklist after an hour or so of "working, tying up loose ends".

On THOSE days, it is ultimately good, solid work time wasted.

CREATE YOUR OWN PRODUCTIVITY FORMULA 

Instead of starting the day by pecking at your work (or your play), try setting up a daily checklist that you start every morning with – your own personal productivity formula.

You can think of it as a series of appointments with yourself, a very effective concept that Jason from Black Belt Productivity calls to our attention.

This not only makes you instantly more focused on what you need to be doing, but it also creates a balanced approach to your work tasks, another absolutely vital skill you need to master to be successful.

It's one that I struggle with if I don't use my checklist, if I get to the point of actually focusing on a task, it is often the same task. The one that comes to mind and that is the most enjoyable for me, but not necessarily the most important one, or the one that has been neglected and must be finished.

ARE YOU A CHICKEN OR A ROCKIN' PRODUCTIVITY MACHINE? 

The picture you're looking at isn't pretty. I find it hard to look at myself. But I thought it was important to illustrate what happens to chickens. They peck away for their lifetime, maybe lay a few eggs, and then it's curtains!

Which do you want to be? 

ACTION TIPS

• Close all of the windows and shut down your computer every night unless you have computer maintenance running so that you are starting fresh each day. This alone will save you countless hours of "pecking" instead of "digging in" to your work.  Use the Firefox Sessions Plugin so that you can set up the windows that you need to work in for each project pocket.

• Create your own BOOST Circuit for your work day – think personal productivity formula. Keep it simple and doable.

• If you find yourself playing instead of working, ask yourself why and deal with your answer.

If you are struggling with focus in your home business, sign up for our free WAHM In Focus weekly tip, to help keep you focused, motivated an on track.