Comments on: How to Improve Your Productivity When Working from Home

By: Mary Hall

Mary Hall — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:17:27 +0000

“do not hover over your email” – extremely applicable to me hehe

Sort of related to that bit about designating work space: making sure that you work under similar, if not the same, conditions all the time can help you get to ‘work mode’ easier. I find that I am most productive if I’ve got soft music in the background, so I set up a specific playlist. Incidentally, everytime I hear songs from that playlist, I feel a wee bit more productive than usual.

By: Craig Ford

Craig Ford — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:20:37 +0000

When you work from home with a family it is extremely important that everyone knows the expectations. When I am home working my family knows I am really not there unless there is a huge emergency. It took some getting used to but after working from home for three years now our family has found a rhythm.
Thanks for the great post

By: Bernz

Bernz — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:35:11 +0000

Sure is a great post. As far as I’m concern to declutter and removing distractions has been the toughest struggle so far. Getting better but not quite there yet. I guess NON-FOCUS is the real issue here.

By: FrugalNYC

FrugalNYC — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:49:17 +0000

Great Advice. Sometimes it may be better to not work “at home”. Perhaps take to a cafe or library

I can attest to Twitter being a distraction, but then again so is the rest of the web. Just know when to cut it out and get work done. Once you get started, you’ll keep going.

By: financiallysmart

financiallysmart — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:29:45 +0000

Your tips are very good. When working at home we have to still practice the self discipline that we have while in the office. My biggest distraction is the IM and so I keep it off in order to concentrate on my day’s activities.

By: DDFD

DDFD — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:12:22 +0000

Great post! Scheduling “slack off” time as a reward is key for me. I don’t schedule it by time as much as by task– it is amazing how quickly you can complete tasks if you want to!

By: Mikael

Mikael — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:09:02 +0000

The part about timing yourself has worked wonders for me. Have a task and then setting a timeframe of e.g. 1 hour and having an alarm go off once the hour has passed has really increased the speed at which I work. Everyone should definitely try that out at least once.

Mikael

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:47:21 +0000

Good tips. I would add “employ someone to go to the shop for the chocolate peanuts (required to go with the black filter coffee) and buy those ever bigger clothes I require regularly”

By: Kyle

Kyle — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:33:49 +0000

@craig

I have a pretty nice setup at home, in fact it is a lot nicer than my office at work. I think having a designated area is a definite must. I am here alone during the day so I only have to contend with my own distractions. It will be interesting when my second child is born and my wife is home for 6 weeks with him, I may have to go in to the office every day then.

By: Miranda

Miranda — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:34:11 +0000

Like Ray, my distraction is often the Internet. But I try to combat that by ignoring email, Twitter, etc. while working, and by relegating social media to specific points in my work day. Great tips, Kyle! Thanks for sharing them.