5 Tips On Working from Home

October 28, 2013

5 Tips On Working from Home with guest blogger Meghan Zahari from www.meghanzahari.com

Here are some great tips on working from home, from a fellow Canadian, a topic many bloggers and writers could use some advice and pointers on, I’m sure!  And just look at that face, isn’t she adorable!!?!! (yes and Meghan is too!)
Enjoy the read everyone!

5 Tips On Working from Home

1)     Watch the clock.

3 minutes are spent working before the average employee switches tasks. Because of this, 2 hours of the average workday is spent recovering from distractions. My guess is these stats are worse for people that work from home. After all, there are dishes to do, children to nurture, and couches to nap on. Staying on task can be hard and, at the end of the day, we look back and wonder where all of our time went. This is where time tracking software can be a huge help. Personally, I use Toggl. Every time I switch tasks, I quickly enter it in and Toggl starts the timer. At the end of the day, I have a graph showing how much of my time went into each task – work related or not. There’s something about a ticking timer monitoring my workday that helps me limit my distractions and stay focused on what’s really worth it.

2)     Get out of your PJs.

There are some exceptions to this rule, but for me, nothing creative happens in my pajamas. The only thing you wear your pajamas for is sleeping and watching a movie on a Friday night. Therefore, getting up, getting dressed, and doing your makeup tells your brain that something important is about to happen.

3)     Work hard.

When you work in an office, your productivity is under the watchful eye of your boss. As each paid hour goes by, you had better produce more than some funny Snapchats, an Instagram of your breakfast, and a brainstorming session that led to a nap. At home, no one is watching and you’re usually not being paid by the hour. One of the easiest ways to make yourself work as hard as you would in an office environment is to turn off your phone. Yup, I said it, and it can be done. There’s this neat little thing called a power button. Seriously though, just try it and see how good you feel about all of the checkmarks on your to-do list at the end of the day.

4)     Set goals.

Speaking of to-do lists, you’re going to need one of those. Actually, you’re going to need to keep it pinned up in front of your face. But more than a day-to-day checklist, you’re going to need to set long-term goals for yourself. Otherwise, the days will start blending together and you’ll lose momentum. Always be working towards something bigger and always celebrate when you accomplish something!

5)     Keep going.

My final thought is very specifically for writers. Often as writers, we expect nothing less than a work of Shakespearean art from ourselves (on the first try, might I add). We sit down at our computer to try and write something, hoping our fingers will just fly across our keyboard in a rhythmic beat for the next two hours. One bad sentence later, we curse the writing gods for smiting us with a day plagued by writer’s block and we decide that we’ll have to come back to it tomorrow. But, here’s what I have learnt. KEEP GOING. Just keep writing. Take it one word at a time and remind yourself that it’s only a first draft. Don’t be scared of it’s imperfections and it’s awkwardness as it stumbles on to the page slowly but surely. Anne Lamott wrote this about first drafts in her book, “Bird by Bird”, “For me and most other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts. The first draft is the child’s draft where you let it all pour out and romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.”

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A little more about Meghan

I’m Meghan and I live in the Exchange District of Winnipeg with my husband and pug. When I was little, I was that kid who brought a book onto the playground for recess. Since then, my love for stories has only grown. I spend my days freelance writing, working on children and young adult fiction, and taking creative writing classes through the University of Toronto.

www.meghanzahari.com

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Written by Jennifer Writings of a (n Ex) Mrs Posted in Blogging, Business, writing Tagged with author, blogger, Blogging, Freelancer, organization, Time management, tips, work from home, writer, Writers Resources, Writing