Michael Lyall asked:
When you first decided you would work from home did you imagine that time would be endless and there was so much you could achieve without the distractions of the office? Now you are at home and suddenly every day you feel time flies by and how little you have accomplished?
Yet every person in the world has the same 24 hours to live their day, so why is it that some people appear to achieve so much more. There is no magic formula; just by creating a change in our basic behaviour patterns will enable us to become more productive and less stressed.
The study of time management is particularly important for small businesses. Home based workers suddenly find themselves having to cope with all the additional paperwork that their new situation demands. By setting yourself an organized work schedule and trying to keep to this new routine, you will discover more time over the course of a week.
1) Work out a plan that sets aside say one hour a day to deal with your business paperwork.
2) Set a time limit for morning and afternoon sessions to deal with emails. Reading and answering messages can devour most of your day, unsubscribe from any lists that are not relevant to your business.
3) Unless you need the telephone as a part of your sales division, invest in an answering machine or voice mail. Dealing with calls throughout the day will eat away so much of your time.
4) At the end of every day, write out a plan for tomorrow. Keep your list achievable, there is nothing as satisfying as checking off items completed.
5) Spend a little time organizing your home office, purchase some in and out trays, a filing cabinet. By keeping your files in order you will save valuable time on those frustrating searches for lost papers.
6) Keep pen and paper to hand, plus one of those micro-cassette recorders. You never know when an idea will come to you, do not rely on your memory. Write or record everything.
7) One of the biggest reasons you gave for wishing to work from home was being able to work whenever you wanted. You must set yourself some kind of time limits. If you start to work every hour of every day and night, your work will suffer and so will your health AND so will your business.
If you adopt time management for your home business you will discover you feel less stressed, productively will rise and your profits should soar.