Welcome to the Open for Success Blog: a virtual space where professionals and small business owners can bring their challenges and dilemmas and get ideas, strategies, and support.
Through the years I have come to realize a few things about work and life success. First, the tremendous value of having mentors and allies and then the impact that small changes have in our lives.
Each of us holds answers to somebody else’s questions and vice versa. In the course of living our lives we often become inspired by others and in turn others become inspired by us.
I hope the Open for Success Blog will be a valuable resource for those who visit. I invite you to participate with your questions and ideas and share your wisdom and experience.
If you would like to learn more about me and my coaching practice, visit www.openforsuccess.com
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Feb
27
Your Home Office
Filed Under Working From Home |
Your Home Office: Making It Work
Working from home can be a dream come true for most of us. The ability to make our own schedule and to work at our own pace, as well as not having to deal with the “politics” of an office environment, can be extremely attractive. Before we realize it though, distractions can undermine our effectiveness and we may find it difficult to focus on what needs to be done and see it through. It takes a different perspective and a slight adjustment in the way we do things to be effective while working from home.
Here are some ideas to help you create a highly effective home office and minimize distractions:
- Designate a room or a space within an existing room, as for your office. Not everybody has the luxury of a separate room, but try to find a space where you can go to work and be uninterrupted. If you have small children, you want to choose a space that they cannot access. You can focus a lot easier if this is your space and yours alone.
- Make your work space as comfortable and as beautiful as you need it to be. You want to feel good and inspired when you are in your work space.
- Make sure you have the equipment and supplies you need. A desk with ample writing space, a comfortable chair, your computer, a printer, a fax, your files, paper supplies, reference books, anything you need to do your work.
- Create a filing system that works for you and keep it within reach. You want to be able to retrieve a file within a few seconds.
- Keep a well organized, uncluttered space. Imagine sitting down to write a proposal or an article. You can’t find a pen or the printer is out of paper. In the time you take to hunt down the supplies you need, your creativity and inspiration can go out the door.
- Have a separate phone and fax line for your business. The voice of your three-year old is adorable and you love having it as your outgoing message. When it comes to your business though, it’s your voice your clients want to hear. You also don’t want to compete with your teenager for the phone when you want to return a client call.
- Designate your “working hours.” One of the downsides of working from home can be the challenge of separating ourselves from the home life. Assign specific times when you “go to work”. During those times, you do not pick up the home phone line (unless it’s an emergency), you do not start preparing dinner, and you do not get up to check things out every fifteen minutes. If it helps, get dressed for work, go to your office, close the door, and set the timer.
These are but a few tips. I would love to hear your ideas and challenges on working from home.
© 2007 Yota Schneider, Open for Success. www.openforsuccess.com
May be distributed if full attribution is given and copyright notice is included.