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Time is life’s most overlooked resource, and every day, we’re present with oh-so-many opportunities to throw it away. Distractions. Faux emergencies. Even daydreaming—the love of an entrepreneurial visionary—can quickly turn into a menace when it’s time to get things done. For the home-based business owner, threats to productivity are especially abundant, but luckily, there are ways to stay productive in even the most hectic environments. Here are five ways to be productive working from home.
From the moment you get started in the morning, it’s essential to build up a head of steam because your ability to focus at first—or not— will set the pace for the day. Develop a routine. Wake up at a brisk hour, avoid time-wasting websites like the plague, get a few small tasks out of the way, and you’ll have the momentum to make a real difference for your business as the day progresses.
Looks hard? Great!
It’s always tempting to do the easy tasks first, but if they aren’t as important, we might find ourselves spending extra time on them—subconsciously avoiding the hard stuff.
As a home-based business owner, you are a professional, and your value-add lies in your ability to do the hard work that others are too lazy to do. Lean into the more laborious tasks, and your business will thank you.
Identify your best and least productive hours
Some people are morning people; others work at night. Unless your client needs you on-call, the beauty of running a home-based business is that you set your hours. However, be sure to hold yourself accountable. Some business owners will follow the Spanish model, taking a siesta as their circadian flow dictates, but don’t let the 3 p.m. nap turn into an early closing time unless you’ve already accounted for it in your day!
Break down large tasks
Maybe it’s setting up a website, or developing a new product. Operating your own business involves projects bigger than almost anyone handles at their day job. However, bigger doesn’t need to mean intimidating, and one way to keep yourself steady is to separate a large process into smaller ones. Instead of “website” on your to-do, write out a little more: “Choose a website provider. Find an appropriate domain name.”
Celebrate
You are living a reality that many office-dwellers dream of. It may not always be glamorous—you probably work twice as hard—but always take stock of what went right in a day, even if it didn’t go as well as you’d planned. Everyone needs positive reinforcement, and you can start by giving some to yourself.
The freedom you gain as a home-based business owner comes at the expense of being the lead on every job that comes your way. Although a challenge, this can be an opportunity. Using these productivity tips can help you take better control of both your business and your life!
Jeff Shuford
Jeff Shuford is a nationally syndicated columnist whose monthly column appears in more than 44 regional newspapers. Shuford is one of fewer than five millennial African-American syndicated columnists in the United States, and one of the country’s youngest syndicated columnists overall.
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