Working From Home? Avoid These Not-So-Obvious Distractions.

So you got motivated to start your own business, or
maybe even convinced your boss that you're ready to be
more productive in a less distracting environment, and
you're just pumped that you now get to work from home.
At face value it sounds great: no start time, take lunch
whenever you want, walk around in your pajamas all day
and all of the other perks that can come along. Sounds
glamorous, right? Well, as great as it can be to spend the
first half of the day in board shorts, if you don't
structure yourself and your environment, you can get in
serious trouble.
Related: 10 Questions to Ask Before Allowing
Employees to Telecommute
There certainly aren't a shortage of articles written about
structuring your day or forming positive habits, so this
won't be one of them. There are, however, a number of
not-so-obvious things that I've learned as an
entrepreneur to either include or avoid when amidst a
startup and/or working out of a "home office." The key
is to control distraction, which your home is chock full
of.
Eat real meals. When working out of an actual office,
I'm the kind of person that tends to realize that it's 4 in
the afternoon and I haven't eaten all day -- not good.
You know how it goes though: you get busy, things
come up that weren't expected and unless you have a
scheduled lunch, food isn't on the forefront of your
mind. So when you're working from home and have
more control over your schedule, you have the ability to
eat or snack whenever you want. Good thing, right?
Absolutely not.
You have to set aside time to eat real meals at defined
times because there is nothing more distracting than
being hungry and realizing that you can just head to the
fridge for a quick swig out of the milk carton or a
handful of mixed nuts that have been sitting out on the
counter in a cocktail dish for three months. Gross, I
know.
Listen to music without words. What's better than
working from home and cranking your Michael Bolton
mix tape? I'd say a lot, but that's not the point. The point
here is that distractions come in all shapes and sizes
and allowing yourself the opportunity to get lost in music
that will cause an old concert flashback or promote the
constant need to skip to your next favorite song means
that your mind is not on your work.
Related: 10 Tips to be a Proficient Telecommuter
As a solution, I always had better success in focusing
when I listened to music that didn't have words. Whether
it's jazz, classical, the Lemon Jelly station on Pandora or
your favorite Kenny G album, music without words will
help you remain focused.
Avoid sitting in front of a window. No, I'm not saying
lock yourself in a windowless room, that would make
any sane person crazy. I am, however, saying that sitting
in front of a window or sliding glass door provides the
potential for you to lose your focus while looking out at
the chirping birds, playing kids, barking dogs and/or
whatever else goes on outside your window. Situate
yourself so that you can enjoy the natural light of a
window but are not set up in direct view of visual
distractions.
You need to structure your environment in such a way
that you can avoid as many distractions as possible and
maintain your focus. Your ability to control these
distractions and remain focused will allow you to be
more productive and, in turn, allow you to spend more
time doing the 'non-work' things that you want to do.
That is why you're working from home, right?