Now that you are working at home you have many distractions. Learning to manage these distractions will help your business suceed.
Here are some of the most common time wasters:
1. Email.- Email is an important part of your business day. Once you have mastered sending and receiving email, there's no limit to the people or organizations you can reach at the press of a button.
The downside to the marvel of email is that you can lose a lot of your day dealing with SPAM and formatting your email. You could easily waste half your work day on email.
Some time saving tricks I use are:
- Keeping a set of standard email letters on your computer. These will save you a lot of time when you want to send similar responses or solicitations.
- Use Outlooks rules to direct email to special folders. This will allow you to separate your emails into folders where you can prioritize them and give your attention to the most critical categories first.
- Use auto responders when you are out of town.
2. Pop Ups. - Pop ups will slow down your surfing and it's down right frustrating trying to get rid of these annoying unwanted ads. In addition these pop-ups open your computer to spyware and viruses. Most current browsers have pop up protections. Turn it on.
3. Surfing. - Stay focused on your job/business. Surfing, chat rooms, and similar distractions can burn a lot of time before you realize it.Ignore links that detract from your objective. If you are looking for information on the latest software or industry news why are you visiting music sites or downloading screen savers?
4. Failing to plan your day. Start or finish each day with a todo list of what needs to happen the next few days. This will help you stay focuses during your day. When you complete a task check it off the list. You will see progress and find that at the end of your day you have accomplished more of what you need to do for your business.
5. Time Limits.- Setting a time limit for specific tasks will help you have control of your day and will force you to bring tasks to an end. If you have a perfectionist nature you may find a need to "tweak" projects until they take too much of your time.
I often use a kitchen timer to remind me that a task has been going on over the planned time limit.
6. Telephone/Television Distractions - Turn off that television. You may think it is just background noise but in reality those minute or so glances add up.
7. Family Distractions - Encourage the family to give you work time. If you are the primary care giver you will need to develop activities for the kids so they are busy and still under your eye.
Make your home office "Off Limit" during work hours. Tell family members to handle any minor problems while you are at your computer. Close the door to your office. Place a sign on it "Do Not Disturb During Work Hours."
Art Sprague runs Artsphotography.com and Art Sprague Consulting. Both are home based businesses.