On the face of it what is there not to like about working from home? There is no rush hour traffic to contend with and you can stay in bed until 5 minutes before you are due to start work! You don’t even need to get dressed if you prefer not to. Surely everyone would like to give the office a miss once in a while if not every day. However, unless you are disciplined, the perceived benefits can also become disadvantages and your efficiency can suffer. If you are to become a really effective home worker the following advice could help.

• Build a routine in to your day as you would if you were going in to the office.
• Start work at the same time each day. Set a timetable and stick to it. Don’t just work for half a day!
• Set up a separate home office – keep business and work areas apart if you can
• Dress as though you were going to work. If you are physically prepared you will be mentally prepared.
• Write down everything you need to achieve that day and work through this list.
• Do not be tempted to undertake household chores during normal working hours or to switch on the TV. (If you work better with music in the background there is nothing wrong with having the radio on. I sometimes do).
• Set yourself small goals and then reward yourself when you achieve them. For example, if you want a coffee but have a blog article to write reward yourself with a coffee only once you have written the blog.
• Only take the breaks you would be entitled to should you be in an office environment.
• We all need to spend time on the internet in the line of business but keep ‘social’ browsing to an absolute minimum. Reserve visits to personal websites for break times and maybe as a ‘reward’ as referred to above.

How to become an effective home worker

In my role as Business Development Specialist I spend a lot of time working from home. It can be very rewarding to get to the end of the working day knowing that I have achieved everything I set out to do. Sticking to the above advice has been very helpful for me. I trust that it will be for you too.