When I decided to work from home, I figured I would be able to wiz through my day and have plenty of time for other activities, time with my family and loads of money coming in with very little work. How wrong I was. Once I started working from home, I found that there were not enough hours in the day to get done everything that I needed to get done—or thought I wanted to get done.
It never occurred to me that working from home could get so out of control that I would lose sight of all the reasons why I wanted to do it in the first place. I am not the only one who has or has had this problem. I bet you were in this situation once as well.
I learned the hard way that if I do not schedule my day to the minute, I don’t get nearly the work done that I need to and I waste more time trying to get organized than I do actually working on productive tasks. Now scheduling is my lifeline so I don’t fall into the unproductive work at home trap.
If your “To Do” list is scribbled out on a piece of scrap paper laying somewhere under your home business for dummy books, then you need to get a grip and come to terms with your lack of organizational skills. Don’t worry, we have all been there, but if you want to be productive, you need to set a schedule and stick to it.
Here are some reasons why you should have a work at home schedule:
–> Non priority tasks will take up your whole day and keep you distracted from doing work that is important.
–> If you don’t make a schedule, you will never find the time to do all the fun things that made you want to work from home in the first place.
–> You don’t make money if you don’t do the important work.
My mind set on scheduling was that if I set a schedule, then I am trapped just like I would be at a job outside the house. It took me awhile to realize that I was the one setting the schedule. I could do what I wanted! That was my aha! moment. Now, I schedule my whole day, including free time, household chores, kids’ activities, my own activities and even dinner. I found that making a schedule made my life easier and my home business more profitable because everything got done with less stress.
As I write this post, it is the New Year when everyone wants to get their lives in some kind of order. I bet you do too. Take a few minutes or the whole day if you have to and make that schedule. If you are too afraid to make it long-term, then just do it for one week and see what progress you make. Do it in pencil, that way you can erase if something just isn’t going to work. Pencil it in on another day. Keep a computer spread sheet if that is easier. The point is, just get it done.
If you are like me and don’t want to waste another minute doing unproductive tasks, then make your schedule today and get on with the business of making money and having all the fringe benefits that go with it. It really does work.
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