One of the biggest problems you'll face when working online from home is motivation. There's m massive mind shift when you're working for someone else, following their instructions and being told what to do every day.
Then suddenly you've got amazing freedom to do what you want, when you want. If you're like most people that's when the distractions kick in. There's the internet, there's friends visiting, there's shopping to do, kids to pick up and 101 other distractions. Before you know it the days finished and you haven't achieved anything.
Follow these 6 tips to get you back on the right track.
1. Eat A Live Frog
Mark Twain famously said "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day". He then said something like "If you have two live frogs, then eat the ugliest one first".
To become more motivated and achieve more, take that task, the worst one, the one you've been putting off for ever. Knock it on the head and get it out of the way first thing in the morning and then you've only got good stuff coming your way for the rest of the day.
2. Create A Schedule
Ok, not quite as catchy as Eat A Live Frog, but it's possibly one of the most important in this list and will make a huge difference to remaining focused and being productive. Create a generic schedule with daily tasks, broken down into hours. You must also include time where you're not working like exercise, lunch etc. That's your generic schedule and the one you want to follow to make your everyday tasks into habits you do without thinking about them.
Now each day and week, other tasks crop up, so you should plan those and write them on your generic schedule and save a new copy. That way you've got the tasks you should be doing and also the extra tasks written over them, so when you finish the extra tasks you can go right back to the normal ones.
Then stick to it as it's the most important thing you can do when you're working online from home!
3. Time Yourself
Once you've created a schedule it's very easy to go overtime on particular tasks. Search on the internet for digital timer, or online stopwatch, and for each task listed on your schedule, set a countdown with an alarm, and when that goes off move onto the next task immediately.
4. Have Focus Days
Set some days aside where you only do one thing, like write articles, or create videos. Start as early as possible in the morning and keep going until the very end of your day. Don't let anything get in the way of you achieving massive output during the focus day. Add focus days to your schedule!
5. Turn Off Your Email
Close your email application and only look at it twice a day and restrict yourself to 20 minutes each time. When you're working online from home, most emails are not important and don't have to be answered straight away. Same thing with your mobile/cellphone. Turn it on to answerphone. Use your common sense if you're expecting an important call.
6. Simplify
Have a clean desk policy and also try and systemize any repetitive tasks. Try and keep as much paper off your desk (apart from your schedule). Remove anything that is likely to cause distraction like books, gadgets (think cellphone!) and so on,
So working online from home gives you a lot of freedom, but the biggest danger is time wasting and procrastination. Follow these simple tips: Do your worst task first, create a schedule, stick to the times on your schedule, have days where you concentrate on one thing and one thing only, remove all distractions and keep everything as simple as possible.
You must stick to your schedule above all else. It's overlooked by so many people, but is one of the most powerful ways to remain focused and working online from home to build a great business.
Bonus Tip
Then suddenly you've got amazing freedom to do what you want, when you want. If you're like most people that's when the distractions kick in. There's the internet, there's friends visiting, there's shopping to do, kids to pick up and 101 other distractions. Before you know it the days finished and you haven't achieved anything.
Follow these 6 tips to get you back on the right track.
1. Eat A Live Frog
Mark Twain famously said "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day". He then said something like "If you have two live frogs, then eat the ugliest one first".
To become more motivated and achieve more, take that task, the worst one, the one you've been putting off for ever. Knock it on the head and get it out of the way first thing in the morning and then you've only got good stuff coming your way for the rest of the day.
2. Create A Schedule
Ok, not quite as catchy as Eat A Live Frog, but it's possibly one of the most important in this list and will make a huge difference to remaining focused and being productive. Create a generic schedule with daily tasks, broken down into hours. You must also include time where you're not working like exercise, lunch etc. That's your generic schedule and the one you want to follow to make your everyday tasks into habits you do without thinking about them.
Now each day and week, other tasks crop up, so you should plan those and write them on your generic schedule and save a new copy. That way you've got the tasks you should be doing and also the extra tasks written over them, so when you finish the extra tasks you can go right back to the normal ones.
Then stick to it as it's the most important thing you can do when you're working online from home!
3. Time Yourself
Once you've created a schedule it's very easy to go overtime on particular tasks. Search on the internet for digital timer, or online stopwatch, and for each task listed on your schedule, set a countdown with an alarm, and when that goes off move onto the next task immediately.
4. Have Focus Days
Set some days aside where you only do one thing, like write articles, or create videos. Start as early as possible in the morning and keep going until the very end of your day. Don't let anything get in the way of you achieving massive output during the focus day. Add focus days to your schedule!
5. Turn Off Your Email
Close your email application and only look at it twice a day and restrict yourself to 20 minutes each time. When you're working online from home, most emails are not important and don't have to be answered straight away. Same thing with your mobile/cellphone. Turn it on to answerphone. Use your common sense if you're expecting an important call.
6. Simplify
Have a clean desk policy and also try and systemize any repetitive tasks. Try and keep as much paper off your desk (apart from your schedule). Remove anything that is likely to cause distraction like books, gadgets (think cellphone!) and so on,
So working online from home gives you a lot of freedom, but the biggest danger is time wasting and procrastination. Follow these simple tips: Do your worst task first, create a schedule, stick to the times on your schedule, have days where you concentrate on one thing and one thing only, remove all distractions and keep everything as simple as possible.
You must stick to your schedule above all else. It's overlooked by so many people, but is one of the most powerful ways to remain focused and working online from home to build a great business.
Bonus Tip
Another great tip for staying focused is being part of a supportive and like minded community.
The Six Figure Mentors is a group of online business owners whose main aim is to educate and mentor each other to succeed in creating their own successful online businesses.
Check out this cutting edge 7 day free video training, covering all aspects of running an online business.
The Six Figure Mentors is a group of online business owners whose main aim is to educate and mentor each other to succeed in creating their own successful online businesses.
Check out this cutting edge 7 day free video training, covering all aspects of running an online business.
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