I recently posted on social media that it can be really tough for you to stay focused when working from home. I have been working from home for over 15 years, I do go out for lunch meetings and networking but most of my time is spent working alone or on the dreaded zoom!! I got such a good response that I thought I would repurpose it but go into a little bit more detail for each one.
So, here are some tips for you to help combat the distractions and stay focused when working from home:
Limit your time on Social Media
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This is a big one here – Limit the time your Social Media, put your phone in another room. You could also have regular times the day when you check your phone. About 5 mins before one of your scheduled posts are going out would be ideal so you can comment and like others’ posts. Then you will be online so you can reply to any comments you may receive from your posts.
Have everything you need to complete the task.
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When you have a task to complete, make sure you have everything you will need to complete the task with you at your workstation. This will stop you from having to get up for bits and allow the task to be completed in the quickest time.
Plan out your week.
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Plan out your whole week either on a Friday or Sunday evening with meetings and tasks to be completed each day. This will help you be realistic with time blocking and keep you on track, so no task is forgotten. You might even find it useful to have a skeleton plan for the whole month. Things may change but at least you know your tasks, so you can re-jig the time slots with confidence. If you have meetings make sure you leave enough time for follow-ups or travelling home. If you have 3 to 5 MUST DO tasks for each day you won’t overwhelm yourself and you will feel a sense of accomplishment each day you are working.
Have set time for working.
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Have a set start time for working, set breaks and a set finish time too. I have alarms for my breaks and lunch so that I don’t forget. This may sound odd, but it really helps me stay focussed when working from home and also avoids that mid-afternoon slump when blood sugar could be low.
Eat that Frog!!
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Make the most boring job your first one of the day and don’t move on to anything else until it is completed. This comes from the Brain Tracy school of thought, ‘Eat the Frog’. There’s no doubt you can get a lot of tasks done when you are procrastinating but you won’t feel any better knowing that FROG/big task is still incomplete.
Work out the times of the day you are at your best.
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Work out when your most productive hours are in the day and try to work then. You need to be really honest with yourself here and track how your working day is going over a few weeks. It will help you to block out time when you are feeling creative, analytic and you can book meeting when you know you have the highest energy to offer. I have spent ages working out when my optimum time for working is and you know what? It changes during the month, and I take account of this when I am booking in time for tasks.
Get an accountability buddy.
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Get an accountability buddy to check in with each week or fortnight. Whether it be life accountability or business, it is important to celebrate wins or reflect on times when things didn’t go so well. It also helps you to grow as a person in emotional and cognitive intelligence.
Finally, if all that fails and you don’t feel like your business is moving forward at all, or you are just moving tasks on from one week to the next without completion, give me a call or DM and I can help you. Whether it be an accountability call each week/month or to talk through business ideas you have but are unsure how to implement, I am here to help and support you. I automatically do this with clients as it keeps us on track and makes sure they are growing their business, and at the very least keeping the momentum and focus high for their business.
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My minimum package for accountability is 1x 30 min zoom call and action plan with updates per week for £100/week, if this is something you feel you’d like to discuss further then please book a call with me HERE