Tips for Staying on Task, Especially When Working at Home

Working at home can prove to be challenging with the numerous distractions and the simple fact that no one is there to monitor your work. Below are some tips to stay focused.

1. Designate an office or workspace within your home to help separate your personal life from your work life.
2. Set a schedule or a minimum number of hours to work each week. If you like more flexibility, a minimum number of hours may work better for you, and having this goal will help you to be accountable to yourself.
3. Take frequent breaks. Taking breaks is necessary to let your brain rest and recoup from the intensive work throughout the day, and it’s just fun!
4. Keep track of day-to-day vs. month-to-month vs. year-to-year tasks, and regularly assess if you are working on the task of highest priority. Task management apps, such as Trello, help reduce the clutter of 8 different paper or whiteboard lists into one easily navigable app.
5. Last and certainly not least, steer clear of digital distraction! This is especially difficult when your job entails working in social media, but there are many apps to both restrict internet capabilities (Freedom and Concentrate) or to monitor your time spent on the computer (RescueTime), allowing you to find inefficiencies and track improvements.

Hopefully these suggestions will keep you focused on the task at hand rather than folding clothes, cleaning, or surfing the web. Best of luck!

Content contributed by Meredith Soniat, Metro NOLA Sourcelink.  Metro NOLA Sourcelink is a proud affiliate of U.S. SourceLink, America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs.