How to Break Your Workflow Up and Make it More Manageable

One of the challenges when working from home is learning to be fully responsible for your own workload. Juggling multiple tasks is much harder when there is no boss leaning over your shoulder. So how do you stay on-task and make sure everything gets done? Here are some powerful tips.

Eat the Frog

One crucial tip from Mark Twain is to always tackle the biggest and most difficult task first. This means that you’re going to tick the biggest item on your to-do list off first, which in turn means that you’ll have started the day by being hugely productive. That also means that if you run out of time, then the hardest job (and usually the most important therefore) will be done. AND it means that you can tackle this job while you are fresh and before you get tired by the end of the day.

Big tasks are better behind you, than in front of you!

The One Minute Rule

The one minute rule dictates that any job that will take less than one minute (shooting off a quick email, fixing a broken link on a website) should be completed right away. This is such a minor interruption to your day as to not have a negative impact on your workflow. BUT by completing it now, it will be one less thing that you have to do.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t switch tasks however. If you are deep in work, then turn off notifications and deal with the one minute tasks when you finish.

Zombie Tasks

Finally, there is one other category of task I would like to address: the zombie task.

So what is a zombie task?

Essentially, this is any kind of task that doesn’t require you to be particularly focussed. For example, you might need to edit an image, or you might need to collect email addresses into a spreadsheet. These are jobs that you can do while doing something else.

These can be structured differently in order to allow for additional productivity, or even some kind of downtime. Writing, coding, or communicating for long stints is tiring and can get dull, so why not treat yourself to an episode of your favorite show while you do your web design? Or better yet, listen to something on a podcast that you can then use in order to better inform your next piece of work?

How to Work Online From Your Own Home Office and Keep the Costs Down and Work Ethic Up!

Working online is a fantastic way to not only be self-employed and achieve financial independence, but also to enjoy the freedom of being able to work from wherever you want, to set your own hours and to pursue something that interests you as your career. In short, if you can work online you'll likely find that you naturally improve every aspect of your lifestyle.

And what you might not also have realized is the sheer amount of money saved when you work from home. Think about it: you'll no longer have to pay to commute to work which might mean saving hundreds a month on rail transport, or perhaps a similar amount on parking. You'll also have to spend less money on eating out and you'll get an extra two hours or more of your day to yourself because you won't have to travel… it's glorious.

But while there are lots of benefits to working on the web and having a home office, it's also important to consider that there can be some downsides too. This is a very unique and unusual lifestyle when compared to what most of us are used to and it's actually very different to adapt to for many people in the early stages. So let's look at how you go about working out of a home office while keeping costs down.

Stocking Your Office

The problem that many people make to begin with is that their home office is not really a home office. At least that is to say that they don't treat it like a genuine home office. Rather than kitting this space out with the correct professional grade furniture and technology, many people will simply keep the furniture they already have in there and essentially they'll be working out of a home study or the like. This might be a nice space, but it is not going to be as conducive to work as a real home office.

Unfortunately though, many people just don't want to stock out their home office because it can feel like a waste of money. Essentially, if you are working from home to save yourself cash, then spending more money on that property in order to add furniture can seem a little counter-intuitive.

A solution is to invest in second hand furniture, or refurbished furniture. This way, you can stock out your office with much better quality products, without breaking the bank!

Supplies

You might find you also need a number of different supplies for your home office – things like paper and pens for instance. The trick here is once again to treat your office like a real office and to buy in bulk. That means a bigger upfront expense, but the result is that you’ll never run out of the things you need, and you’ll be able to make big savings. You can even try buying from wholesalers and manufacturers using sites like Alibaba!

Bills

Finally, remember that you may be able to write off your bills as an expense. That means things like electricity, internet, and more. You can also often find deals for businesses.

How to Look After Your Health and Fitness When Working From Home

Working from home might seem like an amazing opportunity to relax and take it easy. You can wake up later, you don’t need to commute to work, and you can avoid to speaking to anyone you don’t want to.

But while all that might sound amazing, it can actually end up being too much of a good thing.

Going outdoors is actually rather crucial for vitamin D and fresh air. Speaking to people is good for our mental health. And not commuting might well mean only getting 1,000 steps a day. This can all cause serious damage to your health!

So what can you do? Here are some tips that will make a big difference.

Spend Time Outdoors

One way or another, you NEED to spend time outdoors. A powerful tip is to go outdoors in the morning, as this will also help you to adjust your body clock to ensure better sleep.

At the same time, going for long walks can also be useful. Try wearing a fitness tracker which will count your steps and that way tell you if you need to get more exercise – the results can be shocking once you start working from home!

Protect Your Sleep

If you don’t get enough sleep, you won’t be able to exercise optimally. It really is that simple. So make sure that you protect this and try looking up the phrase “sleep hygiene” on Google for some more ideas.

Separate Work and Downtime

One of the biggest dangers when working from home, is that you don’t give yourself any real “time off.” You can end up always “half working” and never fully relaxing.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, make a strict rule that you will always finish work at the same time every day – and then stick to it. At the same time, turn off notifications from work related apps in the evening, or use a separate work phone.

Your ability to work is based on energy and motivation. These are finite resources, which means they need to be replenished!

Exercise!

We have already touched on the importance of walking, but any kind of exercise is important to avoid letting your stay-at-home lifestyle get the better of you.

Try engaging in yoga, some functional fitness movements, or even just go for a jog. This will not only help prevent health issues, but will also improve your energy and focus thanks to the positive impact that exercise has on the brain.

3 Ways to Avoid Loneliness When Working From Home

While working from home has a lot of upsides, it also has a few challenges. One is social isolation and loneliness. Here are just a few ways you can overcome that.

Go Out

Working from home is really more of a figure of speech rather than a literal description of where you are going to work (unless you are reading this during the Coronavirus outbreak!) – because actually when you’re self-employed or working at home, you can work anywhere. Why not then go and work in a café in town? This way you will at least get to chat to the staff that work there and maybe some other people sitting in. Or alternatively of course you can sit in a bar or pub, or when it’s sunny relax on the grass in the sun with a glass of juice. This way working for yourself becomes a much more desirable, and at the same time you’ll be likely to encounter more people, have more conversations and possibly even meet attractive members of the opposite sex. Of course, you also need to be open to chatting to people for this to work.

For those that can’t leave the house, working in the garden is an option. And in the front garden, you’ll be able to tip your cap to people as they walk by!

Meet Up With Others

You can also make blogging, coding, or entering data more sociable by using the opportunity to meet up with people you don’t normally see. For instance, you can meet your friends for lunch on their lunch break, or you can meet them after work if they finish early. You’ve got the time, and you can even do things like design work while you chat. And in fact, this will be a lot more sociable than most people are in the office anyway. Apart from anything else you’ll be chatting to people who are actually your real friends rather than just colleagues.

If this isn’t an option? Then you can always call them over lunch instead!

Network

Networking and interacting with others in your industry is very good for your career and a great way to promote your business and make contacts. At the same time, it can make your business less unsociable, so try attending networking events, working face to face with designers and marketers, and responding to your fan mail rather than locking yourself away. It’s good for your site, and it’s even better for your mental health...

Click the blue button to learn how you too could spend your time doing the things you really enjoy

7 Advantages of Letting Your Employees Work From Home

Thanks to increasingly fast and reliable internet connections along with a host of new software options, it is now more viable than ever to let your staff work from home. Give your employees the right software and they'll be able to work on collaborative projects, answer e-mails, take calls and even attend meetings via video conferencing systems. All-in-all there are increasingly few reasons not to allow your staff to work from home and a whole host of reasons why you should. Read on for seven of them…

1 They Will Often Get More Done

Believe it or not, staff who work from home will often actually get more done than they would working from the office. This is because there will be fewer distractions in many cases, because they won't be tired out by the commute and because they'll have access to all the tea and comfy clothes they want. What's more, they will feel they need to earn the right to work from home which means they'll work to do at least as much as they would in the office and probably more.

2 They Will be Happier

This shouldn't be understated. People who have the option to work from home can do more of the things they want to do and design their work to fit around their lifestyle. This is the way that work should be and the result is happier staff who will ultimately work better as a result and at the same time be more likely to stay with you.

3 You Will Attract Better Staff

And when you tell your prospective employees they'll be able to work from home, they will be more likely to want to work for you – thus meaning you have the pick of the best staff rather than being everyone's last resort.

4 You Will Appear More Forward Thinking

Let's face it, in the next few decades working from home is going to become the norm anyway – you might as well embrace it now and thereby look like a forward thinking organization rather than a dinosaur stuck in the past.

5 You Will Cut Overheads

If your staff work from home some of the time you will be able to work with a smaller office and reduce your energy bills. You'll still be paying them the same and as mentioned, their output will still be the same so the result will be better profit margins.