How to Work From Home

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How to Work from Home

Do you ever wonder how people successfully work from home? Whether it’s a pandemic or you just want to work from home. How do people do it? How do they stay focused? How do they have work-life balance? How do they get more done when they’re working from home? Are they able to increase work productivity at home? I’m going to talk through seven different things that are going to help you to work from home.

Talk to your clients about working from home

First talk to your clients about the transition. Explain to them why you’re doing it. Explain how it will impact them with you working from home. See if they have any concerns. When you talk to them there’ll be more buy-in about how you’re working from home now.

Set up a dedicated space for you to increase work productivity

Second, set up a dedicated space with different places to sit and stand. When it comes to lighting when you shift tasks change the lighting. Also, when switching tasks, change where you sit so it feels like you’re moving to different parts. Don’t work in other areas of the house. So you only have one area that feels like work. The last thing you want is to be watching Netflix in the evening and feel like you’re still at work.

Set a clear schedule to increase work productivity

Number three, set a clear schedule for your family. Include triggers that they can count on and know when to interrupt and when not to. For example, in the morning say to your kids “I’m headed to work.” Give them hugs and then go up to your office. When you’re home say “I’m home from work” and give hugs and welcome back in the same way that you would if you went away to an office.

Be aware of what will suck you in

Number four, be aware of what will suck you into home life. Keep your brain clear from the responsibilities of home.  If you know that going down and seeing the dishes in the dishwasher is going to make you want to go unload that dishwasher then don’t go there during your workday. Bring your lunch to your office. Find ways to keep your brain in work mode.

Bookend your time

Number five, bookend your times so that you start and end at a specific time. If you know that you want to start working by 9 am set up an appointment with a client so you have to show up at 9 am.  Then you will be prepared and ready for the day. If you know that you want to work until 4 pm or 5 pm have a specific meeting at that time so that you have to keep working until that time. Fill in the day in the way that you want to. Have it highly scheduled so that you can bookend the start and stop times.

Have clear KPIs for yourself

Number six, have clear KPI’s, key performance indicators, for yourself. How will you know if this is good for you if your profits go up? How will you measure work productivity while working from home? If you have more free time or if you feel just happier overall. How are you going to judge whether or not this experiment of working from home is actually for you?

Resist the temptation to check email at night

Number seven, and probably the most important, is to resist the temptation to check email at night and to work when you’re not scheduled. You need to relax. This is your home so enjoy working from home.

Make sure you follow these seven tips. For more tips on working from home, growing your business, and optimizing your brain head on over to practiceofthepractice.com where we have tons of resources that will help you to continue to grow your business.

Joseph R. Sanok, MA, LLP, LPC, NCC

Photo of Joe Sanok, a private practice consultant who helps therapists increase work productivity while working from home. By following these tips, most therapists will be able to have 4 day work weeks and 3 day weekends. Joe Sanok is an ambitious results expert. He is a private practice business consultant and counselor that helps small businesses and counselors in private practice to increase revenue and have more fun! He helps owners with website design, vision, growth, and using their time to create income through being a private practice consultant. Joe was frustrated with his lack of business and marketing skills when he left graduate school. He loved helping people through counseling but felt that often people couldn’t find him. Over the past few years, he has grown his skills, income, and ability to lead others, while still maintaining an active private practice in Traverse City, MI. To link to Joe’s Google+