If you are a small business owner who is fighting space crunches then working at home is not an option, it becomes a necessity. While working at home comes with its own share of perks like not having to navigate through traffic to get to work, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Primary among these challenges is striking a work-life balance for the entrepreneur.
Here are some tips to help you overcome the challenge of work-life balance:
Get a Work Station
When you work from home you need your own workstation. No, it’s not the dining table or that space in your living room or bedroom you use to write notes and deal with accounts. You need a definite area which should be free from clutter.
More like a den with good ventilation, adequate lighting, a proper desk, internet connection, computer and printer all within your reach. Not a space everyone else uses, just your space.
Close All Unnecessary Browsers
Staying connected with the outside world means being online while you work. However, browsing the net can take up too much of your time and before you know it all those Facebook updates and tweets you thought you could catch up with while you wrote emails and balanced your accounts will have eaten in to lots of productive time.
This is why you need to be conscious about how you spend time online while you work from home.
Don’t Let Home Overtake Work
If you have domestic help coming in to cook, wash and clean you must schedule your breaks around that time. If you work while your cook arrives and you spell out the menu for the day or the cleaning lady arrives and you give instructions it will only lead to waste of time on that front.
The golden rule is if you have responsibilities like dropping the kids to school or buying groceries then those should be timed as breaks and your work schedule should not be affected by them.
Use Time Effectively
The better use you make of time, the better you will feel whether you work at home or at the office. Keep telephonic conversations to the minimum, use the net to pay your bills, bank online, in short, do all that is required to make judicious use of time.
Get Cable TV – seriously
TV in any forms is said to be the number one threat to your productivity working at home. While that is the case to some, we shouldn’t generalize things. Cable TV comes with high speed, reliable Internet access, and as we are working at home, we need this one badly. Some entertainment won’t hurt your productivity; if you can manage your time well, this can be a great way to keep your work-life well-balanced. Just in case you are looking for one, you can get some great recommendations from cable-tv.com.
Discipline and Self Control
Working at home should not mean giving in to cravings and raiding the refrigerator just because it is within reach. Discipline in exercise and eating should be adhered to whether or not you work at home. In fact taking frequent short breaks for a brisk walk and to relax your eyes is necessary. Do not give in to the urge to hit the pillow simply because the bedroom is near.
Staying focused and enhancing productivity should be your top priority. Achieving a work-life balance while working at home can be difficult but it’s certainly not impossible.