Sticking To Routine

[Julie Thompson]

Hello,

I have tried lots of things working from home, i have a good schedule with regular breaks for 5 minutes every 25 minutes this helps. However i always find i get lazy or distracted with personal tasks.

I have tried setting daily goals or deadlines and i tell myself how good i will feel once i reach these daily goals and the work is complete. This has started to help me become more productive. Does anyone else have any other suggestions to help me follow my routine and stay positive please?

Many thanks.

 

[fisicx]

Don’t work 9-5. Find the time of day that suits you best. In my case it’s starting early and finishing early.

I can get so much more done at 5am than I can later in the day.

 

[Julie Thompson]

Don’t work 9-5. Find the time of day that suits you best. In my case it’s starting early and finishing early.

I can get so much more done at 5am than I can later in the day.

Thank you this is appreciated. I seem to not be able to focus very long during the day, so i am considering some mid afternoon work, maybe 2 - 5pm, have some time away and then maybe work 9pm - 2.30am through the night.

 

[alan1302]

Don’t work 9-5. Find the time of day that suits you best. In my case it’s starting early and finishing early.

I can get so much more done at 5am than I can later in the day.

I have to work 9am-5pm - I find I can get more done at home than at work. Have all my own tech at home so it works better! It is best to have your own space to work rather than trying to do it all from the dining room table or somewhere though.

 

[Alan]

I can get so much more done at 5am than I can later in the day.

I get nothing done at 5am - I'm asleep.

Personally after 40 years of regular daytime I find a 9 - 6 works best for me with a slightly longer lunch to get things done in / excercise.

You have the main elements nailed
- pomodoro technique 25minutes / 5 minutes.
- daily goals / task lists

What you are missing is accountability.

This is best done with an accountability partner. A technique would be to send a weekly report to your accountability partner, what you plan this week, what you achieved last week against the plan.

The partner doesn't have to do much, chase up if you don't send your report, and maybe make some encouraging sounds.

With all this working at home / freelancers / I have always wondered if it is actually a viable commercial service, for a modest weekly fee.

 

[SillyBill]

I have about 6 productive hours in me a day. Having said that I am still "in" the business at least 9 hours a day. Clearly quite a bit of time is lost there. I've never swallowed the "work all hours" requirement to run a business (or do a job). I know people who work far harder than me for far less and quite keen to maintain that.

I do 8am-5pm Mon-Fri. 9am-1pm/2pm Saturday. My concentration massively begins to wane around 2pm so all the hard stuff is done in the morning and I'm mostly just "there" for phone calls and e-mails later in the day while trying to get whatever work done I can late afternoon.

I usually have a cuppa at least once an hour, often most of it goes down the drain as I can't drink that much. I just don't like staring at a screen for too long and the 5 minute break/walk across the site helps me prepare for the next mini shift of 50 mins or so.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

If there is big money on the task I am on it
If it is not worth the agro I will be in the Costa Del back garden