Right now I’m sitting on my couch in my living room with my puppy at my feet. It’s a gorgeous day outside. The news of the world is crazy. Its right there at my fingertips. I have social media on my phone and the news on the TV that I could turn on at anytime. There are tons of chores that need doing around the house, and lots of projects I would love to work on other than “work”. So how do it do it?  In my current job as a Regional Brand Manager I work from home a lot. It’s great if you can make it work for you, but it’s not for everyone. I want to share some of the guidelines I give myself when working from home. Hopefully they can help you to be successful as well.

• Regardless of whether or not I have a meeting or a phone call, I aim to be up and working by 8 am everyday.
• I work for at least 8 hours everyday. I give myself a start and an end time. I don’t work on any personal projects until I get to that end time.
• I allow myself little breaks as needed, to use the restroom and walk the dog. I do not take an hour lunch. I work through my lunch to keep myself focused.
• Once I am done at the end of my work period, I go to the gym. This gives me a nice break between work and personal projects.
• I set up my living room work space every day, and take it down every day when I am finished. This was I don’t feel like I am working all of the time.
• I don’t watch TV or movies when I work. This way I get more done and I don’t feel distracted.
• If my roommate or significant other wants to use the living room and I am working, I can go to the bedroom and work to share space.

Am I perfect at this? No. Do I sometimes make exceptions to these rules? Yes. One of the beautiful things about working from home is that there is no boss constantly watching over your shoulder so there is more flexibility. Once I found a good system for it, I found I was more productive at home than I ever was in the office. I didn’t have to worry about commuting, office politics or remembering to bring a lunch. The most important thing for me was following guidelines like the ones above to develop the self-discipline I needed to be successful. Also If I was not perfect at holding to those guidelines I didn’t punish myself I just took note of where I was missing the mark and tried again.

I hope this helps!~