Work From Home Schedule

Do you find that working from home can be challenging at best? 

I'm between jobs and looking for another one (not everyone needs this), so I do some work for non-profits to keep up to date (http://notesfromkris.com/portfolio) and keep my organizational brain sharp by leading a Social Media Meetup.com group (Join CobbSocialMedia).

Here's what I do to start my day.

Personal Habits

1. Get up by 6:00; shower, stretch, clothe.
2. Complete any 'home' work. (start laundry, check emails, pay bills online).
3. Walk child to the busstop at 7:20am - it wakes me up and gets the day started; she's old enough to go on her own, but if I sleep in...there goes precious time.
4. Take the long way home; stretch.
5. If still motivated, do sit-ups and push-ups.
6. Eat breakfast high in protein, low in carbs.
7. Make coffee, fill water bottle, take vitamins, place in office.

Work Habits

1. If Monday, then review last week's like of 'stuff to do' and morph it into this week.
2. If not Monday, look at weekly list of 'stuff to do' and rearrange/update the whole week if necessary.
3. Create chunks of time associated with tasks for the next 2 days.  (Typically, you know what needs to get accomplished within the week; some of which are repetitive, like reading email or industry articles/books.  Other stuff can be one time, eg: call Stephanie from ABC Recruting.)
4. Review scheduled appointments; if prep time is needed, add to calendar.
5. Print today's schedule or update whiteboard it and keep within sight.
6. Create a reward system eg: if I complete all of my stuff before noon, I get to read 2 chapters of a fiction novel or watch music videos or if dark chocolate is in the house...
7. Eat lunch after tasks labeled 'before noon' are accomplished;  high veggie content, some protein, some carb.
8. At noon-ish while eating, check email again, surf Facebook or something personal.
9. Incorporate any 'home' work you need to do; car's oil change, etc - but leave all of the family stuff for night (shopping, laundry, etc) until you've mastered making the most of your 'work' day.

Always always incorporate into the week:

• job search of some capacity: phone calls or job searches with an application
• keeping up with your industry: reading a book (fiction) or researching the internet for the buzz
• 2-4 walking breaks that entail 1) getting the mail, 2) going up and down some stairs and 3) stretching
• getting out of the house for a business meeting

Well, this was helpful to me...the point is, you need to plan or else your days will get away from you.

I also attach larger rewards to getting ahead of schedule.  You need to treat yourself like an employee and a boss.