Work at Home Productivity Tips

It’s time to “spring ahead” again, time to set our clocks ahead one hour.

For many, this means extra daylight at night, which is always nice.

For me and many other mom’s who get some of their best work done in the am before their kids get up and the daily grind begins, it means an opportunity to rise and shine an hour earlier.

Before we “fell back” last fall, I was well on my way to creating my WAHH (Work at Home Helper) system, a system that is heavy on using time pockets and project management to explode productivity. It works wonderfully for me.

As soon as the time changed, I “lost” my hour in the morning because I couldn’t bring myself to get up so early and never got back to my morning project block (school didn’t help either, I was writing before the kids got up in the summer)

So, I am really looking forward to getting back to my morning writing block this week.  I am hoping that you will be seeing the fruit of my labours soon.

note: you will probably find yourself wanting to go to bed an hour earlier so that you can maintain your sleep/wake cycle, so plan accordingly.  I like to unwind with a book for at least 10 minutes before falling asleep. This will not be a problem if you usually watch tv or surf the net the last hour of the evening. If you are “still running” at that time, you may need to adjust your schedule.

If you find yourself staying up as late as usual in “real time”, you may find that you get grumpy by evening. If that happens, take a little nap in the afternoon. I do often. It regenerates me and allows me to get an “extra shift” in until bedtime. And I don’t get cranky with the kids, that’s important!

ACTION TIP

Try leaving your alarm clock set to the same time as it is now this week.

Plan a project block in the hours before “the house” rises.

Prepare the night before, you may be groggy and it is much easier to jump in if you are prepared before hand.

Loosen up a bit by clearing your email for 10 minutes (set your timer) and your desk for 5 or 10 minutes if you didn’t do it at quitting time the day before.

Try it for a week, especially with the march break coming up, you may even gain an extra hour while the kids sleep in.

Email or post your accomplishments, we’d love to hear about them!

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