Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by Lorna Barrow

3.  Remember why you’re at home

 Let me remind you. It’s to WORK! So how come everything else becomes more important?

I struggle with that for years.

I would wake up with my plans in place from the night before, ready to be super productive.

But then after 3 days of rain, the sun would be shining brightly. So I just had to do some laundry. (In the Caribbean we hang our clothes outside to dry.)

By the time I am finished, I am tired and I promise my carefully crafted schedule that it will happen tomorrow…

You cannot achieve your financial and peace-of-mind goals with this approach.

You have to make work your primary focus and fit everything else around it.

Productivity Author Darius Foroux calls it a “work first” mindset.

And let me hasten to add, I’m not suggesting you ignore the other important facets of your life.

Remember, a “work first” mindset will look different for each of us, and that’s alright.

For example, I don’t have set “work hours.” I set targets or deadlines that I have to meet and I just meet them.

I’m super flexible and super focused at the same time.

What you shouldn’t do, is to use your individual circumstances as a reason not to put work first.

You’re not at home to exclusively deal with kids or look after your aging parent, however important these are.

So make the shifts in your life you have to, so that you can put work at the centre of your…well…work. The earlier in the game, the better.

4.  There are hidden productivity pitfalls in your environment

When you are in a traditional workplace, you are in an environment that is controlled to meet your needs. Not so much when you work from home.

I discovered that there are some what I call, “hidden productivity pitfalls” just waiting for you.

So it’s best you try to find as many of them as you can BEFORE you try to establish any work routine (more on that later.)

What am I talking about?

The loud music that starts up every day around 11:30 a.m just across the street from you…say goodbye to any meetings during the “DJ’s” 2-hour spell.

Your dogs who are delighted to see so much of you, they bark their delight every time you appear…trying to keep out of their way only makes it worse.

Really? You never noticed before how hot that corner where you set up your office can get between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m…and the fan only circulates the heat?

And oh no! they are finally going to put up a block of apartments on that lot that has been vacant for the past 5 years…aah the drilling, the cement mixer, the dust and…

These are examples of pitfalls which are hiding in your environment that will impact your productivity.

It seems they are just waiting for you to show up. So you need to try to ferret out as many of them as you can before you move your work home.

What you should do, is try spending different days at home, and observe what’s happening in your internal and external environments, before you make your final move.