working from home


When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity

Many coaches work from home. When deciding to do this a lot question how distracted they will be, their levels of productivity and if that’s a way they can work.

In today’s guest post internet marketer Juan A Rademacher shares his experience of working from his home.

When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity

By Juan A Rademacher

"When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity" by Juan A Rademacher

When Are You Most Productive?

I’m most productive first thing in the morning, right after I finish my breakfast and sit down in front of the computer with my first cup of coffee.

I have my day all planned out. I divide my work day into 6 to 8 one hour blocks of time, and I assign a specific task to each block. I do this the night before. Thus I am completely organized for maximum productivity.

So before I even get into my work space, I know exactly what I’m going to do this day.

Are you impressed?

You should be, because I really do this everyday as part of my working routine.

There’s only one problem. Even though I have the most energy in the morning, and I have all these tasks lined up, somehow I don’t always follow my plan.

My most important time blocks are for content creation, whether it is writing an article, writing a blog post or writing the script for a video.

The problem is that as I sit in front of my computer, I get an unexpected case of writer’s block. I know the topic I want to write about, but the words just don’t come.

So to avoid being unproductive, I decide to make a couple of posts to my Facebook page. Good Idea! Right?

Well, Facebook can easily start you on a slippery slope so far as productivity goes. I’m sure I don’t have to explain how this can happen. There are too many tempting distractions.

The other strange thing I’ve discovered is that in spite of having the most energy in the mornings, I also seem to have the greatest number of distractions.

I know what I want to accomplish that day, but my mind keeps jumping from one interesting topic to another.

As I go through my day, getting a few things done related to my business, running a few errands to cope with the usual demands of daily life, I soon come to the end of the daylight hours.

After dinner, and an hour or two of TV, I settle back to my work space to plan my next day.

But this is when a strange thing happens. All of a sudden, I get an idea in my mind about some content I want to produce, I start making some notes, and before I realize it I am typing away furiously as the thoughts and ideas pour into my mind.

When I check the time, it’s approaching 2:00 AM and I still have a few more lines to complete. I’m now physically tired, but I feel that I have to finish the piece of content I’m working on.

When I’m done, I have two articles written, plus a blog post or some other piece of content I had been thinking about.

So what’s going on here!?

Apparently, some of us find that we can be most productive and even most creative late in the day or late at night.

I am by no means a “morning person,” nor a night owl, it just so happens that my creative energy, my drive, my desire and joy to work come at various times of the day.

This can be very disconcerting, and very tough on your neatly set up daily working plans. It used to bother me a lot. I thought I was not only weird, but lacking in discipline and organization.

Then I read a comment from a super successful online marketer who confessed to having days when he couldn’t get himself motivated in the morning, or the rest of the day and having to just take the day off.

Interestingly, he commented that he was not alone, that everyone working from home had this experience quite frequently.

The secret answer he said was to make the most of those periods, day or night, when everything started to flow, and to get as much done as long as the energy lasted, even if it meant pulling an all-nighter.

So that’s what I do now, and I no longer feel guilty when the mornings get off to a slow start.

I confess, I am obsessed with traffic. That’s because after years of frustration trying to get traffic to my websites, I’ve discovered the power of some easy, time-tested methods for FREE, and low-cost traffic generation.

Read more by visiting: http://jarwinsmarketing.com/writing-tips-for-engaging-content/

About Juan A Rademacher

I retired from Eastman Kodak Co. after 30 years in Kodak international marketing operations. I traveled extensively around the world for 25 years, and I have visited over 50 countries.

After retirement, I switched my focus to Internet marketing.

My passion is to learn, and teach what I know about “How to Generate Traffic.” This is a basic skill that newbies struggle with, and expert marketers are constantly seeking to improve.

Why?

Because traffic is the lifeblood of any business, online and offline. Without traffic you do not have a business.

It is my sincere desire that everyone that comes in contact with me will experience an increase in life, an increase in health and well-being, an increase in financial freedom, in short, an increase in every aspect of their lives.

“What I want for myself, I want for everybody.”

 

Ezinearticles expert page: Juan A Rademacher

Article Source: When Are You Most Productive? How to Maximize Your Productivity


Top 10 Tips to Make You More Productive When Working From Home

Many coaches when they set up their own coaching business work from home. In today’s guest post Amy Woods shares:

Top 10 Tips to Make You More Productive When Working From Home

By Amy Woods

"Top 10 Tips to Make You More Productive When Working From Home" by Amy Woods

Did you know there are more people working from home today than there have ever been before? In the UK alone, according to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people working from home reached 4.2m in 2014. In the USA, 1 in 5 workers (30m people) are based from home, and that number is expected to increase considerably in the coming years. This conjures up images of millions of people working in their pyjamas, in sub-optimal postures, spending their days trying to resist the many distractions at home!

For many entrepreneurs, when setting-up their own business, a big change can be the change in work environment. In particular, if you’re setting-up an online business, you’re almost certainly going to get started by working from home. If working from home is not something that you’re used to, then it can be a very difficult adjustment. Difficult to be productive. Difficult to motivate yourself. It can even feel quite lonely and isolating. You may find yourself seeking solace from a Facebook binge instead of working through that long to-do list.

Never fear. If there is one thing I have become a pro at over many years now, it’s how to be productive when working from home. Let me share with you my top tips for staying happy, healthy and productive when working from home. I’ve thought through a typical day and laid out my tips in the order that they generally occur.

1. Dress like you mean business – I don’t mean wear your suit and polish your shoes! But personally I find I can develop the right mindset and be more work focussed if I feel like I’m at least dressed in a presentable way. I apply the rule that I must be presentable in such a way that if I needed to leave the house I could without feeling a bit of a mess. I always get dressed that’s for sure, no pyjamas! Everyone is different… for me, this also means my contact lenses are in and my makeup is on. Bottom line, make sure YOU feel like you mean business.

2. Have a dedicated workspace – If you have room in your home to do so, then have a home office set-up. If you don’t have room then at least make a dedicated section that is focussed on work. Some people often find it hard to cope with the blur of work and home, so reduce the fuzziness.

3. De-clutter and organise – Personally I like my workspace to be free from clutter and organised. Everyone is different. As Albert Einstein said:

‘If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?’

So perhaps clutter isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Clutter aside, you may want to consider what your workspace requires, and invest where possible, e.g. monitor, printer, storage etc. You may not have a lot of budget to invest in setting-up an all singing all dancing workspace at home, but if there is one thing alone that you should invest in, it’s an ergonomic chair that is good for your back. If there is one thing worse than an un-productive entrepreneur, it’s an un-productive entrepreneur with a bad back!

4. Be disciplined with time management and planning – I’m not saying that you should be at your desk from 9 to 5. Really where is the fun in escaping the 9-5 if you mimic it again at home! But, what I am saying is you need to work out how many hours you are going to work on your business each day, what you will work on, and you must map out your schedule, and stick to it. By all means that schedule may fit in around looking after the kids, attending a class at the gym, joining the ‘ladies that lunch’… whatever makes you happy. But, if you intend to work 6 hours tomorrow, plan when and stick to it. Be disciplined. One slip leads to another and before you know it, that 25 hour week becomes 8 hours and you wonder why you didn’t achieve what you set out to. Plan every day what you are going to do, better still, plan the night before for the next day.

5. Take breaks – Never forget that breaks are important. Personally, I’m bad for following this advice, I take less breaks when I work from home compared to when in an office. I find when I’m focussed and ‘in the zone’ I can go 3-4 hours without even having a drink. No-one is popping over and saying ‘fancy a break’… so I don’t. Take breaks. Stand up, step away from your desk. Go and make a cup of tea, go and have a little stroll outside, fresh air is wonderful, whatever you do have a brain break. Even if that’s watching 15 mins of trash on TV.

6. Plan your meals – You’re gong to find that you’re at home for lunch more than ever before, so plan for that from a food perspective. Eat healthy. Plan ahead where you can. And don’t forget to drink. Hydration is really important. More water, less caffeine!

7. Manage expectations – Make sure friends/family etc know you are working from home, and that it isn’t some sort of euphemism for lazing around doing very little… you are actually working from home. By all means arrange to see friends and family but at times that factor into your work schedule for the day. It’s okay to ignore the front door bell or the home phone, if you were at the office you wouldn’t answer so you don’t have to now.

8. Keep up human contact… don’t become a recluse. Make sure that you get out and about. Consider taking your work with you to a different environment. Why not go to your local coffee shop that has decent wi-fi? Perhaps you know others who work from home, you could meet for lunch, work together at the same location? This tip extends to being social with people you are engaging with to do business – you may find yourself emailing people all the time, why not occasionally phone them or have a video call on Skype, get to know the real person behind the typing!

9. Stay off social media – If you have the tendency to get stuck into Facebook, Twitter, Google+… etc etc, and before you know it an hour has passed by, STAY AWAY. Fine if you allow yourself ‘brain breaks’ and have a little gander at what’s going on once in a while, but as a general rule, try to stay away from non value-add activity that will only take you off task.

10. Know when to stop working – Don’t forget to stop working! Sounds simple enough yet it’s so easy to keep on working and forget when to call it a day. The reality is, if you’re in the midst of setting up your own business, you never really ‘stop’ working, it’s on your mind all the time. But that said, it’s not healthy to work long hours repeatedly – not healthy for your business as well as for you.

If you like this article please head on over to my website – http://www.mummyentrepreneur.co.uk. You will find other interesting articles, plus the opportunity to sign-up for a free training series on how to set-up an online business from scratch.

About Amy Woods

Amy Woods is the creator of mummyentrepreneur.co.uk.  Her website aims to inspire working parents to explore the opportunity of setting up their own digital businesses. Her key message is about gaining flexibility and freedom.  She has her own online business in digital marketing, and she is in the process of establishing a second online business.  She offers a free 7-part video training series to anyone interested, or just intrigued, in setting up their own online business.

Connect with Amy via Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mummyentrepreneur

Google+: https://plus.google.com/b/105011383858281149244/+MummyentrepreneurUkdigital/posts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MummyDigital

 

 

Article Source: Top 10 Tips to Make You More Productive When Working From Home

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