Working from the comfort of your home sounds highly appealing to every adult that had to wake up in an ungodly hour to get to work.

At one point or another, everyone has entertained the idea of working for themselves, which means having a stress-free environment and a loose schedule. However, those who turn the dreams into reality realize soon enough that not everything that glitters is gold.

Although being your own boss is fun for various reasons, lots of freelancers and business owners find it hard to stay productive when working from home.

When you don’t have your boss or co-workers breathing down your neck, you might find yourself getting side-tracked often enough. I, for example, find myself watching an endless stream of YouTube videos or scrolling through Pinterest instead of working every once in a while.

If you find yourself distracted for the same reasons or you catch yourself playing casino games with Fair Go bonus codes, maintaining focus is hard.

It all comes down to two questions: will you be able to find the motivation to work for hours on end? Do you have the discipline required to work under such circumstances?

If you want to learn how to maximize your productivity when you work from home, stay tuned!

What You Can Do

1) Create a suitable working environment – Although staying in your PJ’s and stationing yourself on the sofa sounds like fun, the novelty of the situation will get old after a while. Your environment and what you wear affect your mood and motivation, and that is something that you shouldn’t take lightly.

Sitting at home in your PJ’s might be comfortable, but it creates a relaxed and sluggish vibe that might reduce productivity. The same thing goes to working seated on your sofa vs. sitting at a table. Which one will make you take your actions more seriously?

So before you even start your day, do the following:

  • Change into something more official than your nighty (don’t worry, there’s no need to wear a suit at home).
  • Choose a quiet room to minimize the chances for disturbances.
  • Clean your desk.
  • Choose an ergonomic desk chair that you will be able to sit in for a couple of hours.
  • Make sure that all the office supplies you need are at arm’s reach.

2) Find the time that works best for you – Are you a morning person or a night owl? Since you know when you’re at your best, you can plan your schedule to fit your needs. For me, the early morning hours are the most productive, and I make sure to capitalize on it.

3) Make the most of your time- Even if you know that you can maintain focus for two hours at best, go for it! Don’t plant seeds of doubt in your head that two hours is not enough time and you shouldn’t even bother starting a new project.

If you keep procrastinating, you will never get anything done. Hey, even 15 minutes are plenty of time to tick off items from your to-do list. So even if the clock reads 10:45 and you are tempted to wait till 11:00 to start working, pull yourself together and make the most of the time you have at your disposal.

4) Stick to your schedule – When you set out on your journey as a freelancer, you might find it hard to work for more than a couple of hours straight. Friends will call you and try to convince you to go shopping or eat out when you should be working, claiming that you have all day to accomplish your goals.

But to be productive, you need to treat your schedule as if it is set in stone and allow nothing to distract you. If a friend calls, ask them to contact you later in the day. If you want to hit the shops, you can do that once your official “office hours” pass. That is the only way for you to start taking yourself seriously and start accomplishing things.

5) Prioritize To keep track of all the things you need to accomplish, create a to-do list. At the top of the list place the items that require your immediate attention, so you will get to them when you’re the most focused.

Urgent emails, important projects that require a lot of thought, serious calls – that is what you need to do when you’re still able to concentrate.

Once you start to lose steam, you can get to easier tasks that you don’t have to finish right away.

6) Be flexible – If you hit a wall when working on a project or you run out of new ideas, don’t force the issues. Your time will be better spent if you move on to other items on your list, and you will be able to go back to the matter at hand once you clear your head.

Remember that it is OK to move things around and change your schedule when need be. After all, you are the boss!

In Conclusion

There are many other tips you can implement to be more efficient and productive when working from home. Find the tricks that work best for you, and turn your business into a success!