Self-employment requires a high level of discipline. Working for someone else in the age of “work from home” requires the same level of discipline.
When working in an office environment, it’s less likely that you will stray to Facebook or peruse your Gmail for anything but a fleeting moment. At your remote location, however, there’s no co-worker passing by or turning around to see what’s on your computer screen. So, the lingering on the non-work website can go on too long. That’s not good for you or your employer.
Here's a tip for maintaining a work focus and maximizing it.
Look at your calendar.
When you hit your office, look at your calendar. Mentally map out the day. I take this a step further and use Clockify, a time tracking software. I log appointments and meetings from that day’s calendar and Clockify adds up those hours. As the day passes, I fill in the blanks and at the end of the week, I can see if I’ve given it my full forty (it’s usually more than forty hours), and I can see how my time was invested: meetings, research, proposal building, client calls.
Is it double work? Maybe,
But I need to connect with my calendar, really look at it, before starting the day, because experience has taught without that habit I miss meetings, or I’m late to them, and forget that most important thing I needed to complete. I’m blissfully unaware of what’s lurking just moments away that I might miss when the calendar pop up occurs when all of a sudden I decide I need to eat something or head for that second cup of coffee.
