tips for organizing your home office

Better Organization

PART 1

Organization and Working at Home

Seven Rules for Sane, Productive Work at Home

How do you imagine your home office?

Do you imagine yourself in a home office paradise?Immaculate, zipping through tasks while sipping a cappuccino, savoring unparalleled efficiency?

After all, compared to the standard office, a home office is an oasis and who wouldn’t get more done if they didn’t have to work surrounded by noise and constant interruption and have to waste time attending useless meetings.

Yea, right!

Reality Bites

Working from home is often more like “trying to work from home”.

You have double the phone calls.

Personal and Business.

Sometimes we create our own interruptions.

The dishes need to be done.

There are 3 loads of laundry waiting.

The house needs to be vacuumed.

I have to motivate and keep myself on task?

Work from home rather than just be at home.

You need to create an environment that will allow you to operate in a business-like manner.

The Rules

These rules are to help you get organized and create ahome-based business environment that encourages work rather than hinders it.

Rules 1 through 3

The first three rules will help you organize your home office so you can work at home more productively.

Rules 4 through 7

The second set of rules will help you organize your work schedule in ways that will discourage others from interrupting you and keep you motivated and on task when you’re working from home.

Organizing Your Home Office to Work at Home

Part 2

Rule # 1

Keep Work Life and Home Life as Separate as Possible.

Set Up a Separate Workspace

Setting up a separate workspace helps you keep work life separate from your home life.

A demarcated home office also serves as a signal to family members that “you’re working” and not to be disturbed.

If You Can’t Set Up a Separate Space….

Keep your office materials, files and business materials separate from your personal.

It will take a little more effort but it will payoff in the long run.

Rule # 2

Make your Home Office a Real Workspace.

Does a Cluttered Desk = a Cluttered Mind?

Maybe not, but….

Piles of unorganized papers are not conducive to trying to get work done.

You need to be able to sit down in your workspace and get to work with out having to clear a space or hunt for a particular piece of paper.

Stop Wasting Time and Prevent Distractions

Buy an In/Out basket…and use it.Invest in a filing cabinet.Have a wastepaper can or recycling bag hand so you can

clean up when you close for the day.Keep all relevant working materials in your workspace.

Walking to another room to retrieve a file can be a serious waste of time.

Wasted time = Wasted Money

Rule # 3

Minimize Distractions.

Define Your Work Schedule

So Exactly How am I Supposed to do This?

Tell you family and friends what your work hours are.Ask them to respect that you have a defined schedule.

You Can’t Do Your Job if You’re Doing Something Else

Use the answering machine. You don’t have to answer every phone call.

Put the machine in a different room than the one you’re working in. You won’t be distracted when it’s taking a message.

Check the machine at regular, scheduled intervals.

Don’t Let Your Email Become Your Rabbit Hole

Determine how often you need to check your emails.Stick to that schedule.

How Do I Do That?

It takes discipline.Turn off the automatic notification.Check your email first thing in the morning.Check it at lunch time.Check it at the end of the day.Set up a filing system in Outlook.

Organizing Your Work Schedule to Work From Home

Part 3

Rule # 4

Keep your calendar prominent.

Where’s the Best Place to Keep My Calendar?

On your desk.On your computer.On your PDA.In your planner.

Keep it Visible

This helps you stay on task.It reminds you of your deadlines.

New Habits

Get in the habit of starting every work at home day by looking at your calendar.

Review upcoming deadlines and to-do’s.Prioritize your tasks for the day.

Working More Efficiently

Deciding what to do and when you need to do it will put you in work-mode and let you work more efficiently.

Rule # 5

Keep Track of Your Time

Track Your Time Even if You Don’t Have Billable Hours

Keep track of all the time you work at home so you can adjust your work schedule if necessary and see if you’re achieving your home-based business goals.

Why?

You may have a home-based business goal of working 5 hours a day, but find that this doesn’t allow enough time to produce enough income for you.

If you haven’t tracked your time, you’ll be in for a nasty surprise a few months down the road.

Be sure to include work-related activities like checking and responding to emails and paperwork.

Don’t Put Things Off

If you don’t list these things as work, you won’t think of them as work and you’ll be more likely to put them off.

Make the not so fun tasks a part of your regular work at home routine.

This will save you from having to shut-down your home-based business while you try to catch up on paperwork you should have been doing all along!

Rule # 6

Keep to Your Work Schedule

Determine How Long and When to Work

Determine how many hours a day you want/need to work and when, and then stick to it.

Ask yourself what time of day is the best time for you.

Be Consistent

Your work will go much easier and more efficiently if you stay on a regular schedule, whatever it may be.

Rule # 7

Be Realistic

There are Only 24 Hours in a Day

More than likely you’re not going to put in 10 hours days. If you’re the one at home, you’re dealing with the

normal daily at home kind of stuff.How many hours can you actually sanely work and still be

able to stick to that schedule?

Life Happens

Be Kind to Yourself

If you’ve had a bad work at home day and the universe seems to be conspiring against you, be kind to yourself.

The great thing about working at home is that you get to set your own schedule.

Controlling it rather than letting it control you will increase your productivity and your peace of mind.

Paradise

Working at home can be paradise.

Maybe not one you originally imagined. But if you control your environment rather than letting it control you can have a home office paradise.

Better Organization

Better Organization makes your organization better.