If you work from home you know that it can be difficult to keep your focus. There’s always something going on at home that gets you distracted. If there are kids around, there are surely going to be times when it seems like you can’t work for more than five minutes without there being an interruption. Then there are personal phone calls, people coming over and of course daily house tasks like cleaning, laundry and the dishes. As you can see sometimes it can be down right impossible to be productive. However if you follow the steps I’ll outline in this post you can conquer your time management issues once and for all.

I’m working

People think that just because you work from home that they can ask you for favors. These can include giving someone a ride or babysitting. They need to know that you are working.

Get a home office

Having a space at home designated to be your workspace is crucial. This way, whenever you’re at your workstation you are concentrated on work and nothing else. If you don’t have a spare room, then a corner of a room will do.

Clean

Have a clean workspace. Make the area you are working on clutter-free. There should not be a lot of papers on your desk. Remove pictures from the wall you are facing. Treat this area as a serious space where you work.

Distractions

Don’t work with the television on. You can listen to music if it does not pose a distraction to you. Close the door and work in a confined area. If you do this you’ll realize that you can cram two hours of work into just one hour.

Perfectionist

Do not be a perfectionist. Most of the time, the first time you do something it will come out alright. It makes little sense to do it over and over again. Your last product may be just as good as your first one. Even if it is indeed better, it may not matter. The goal here is to produce quality work in a timely manner, not perfect work in a very long time.

Procrastination

I’ll write this section later.