As you transition from working outside the home to working from home, your thoughts are probably spinning with all the things that you will get done now that you don't have to waste all that time commuting, getting ready for work, etc. Then a few weeks into your new lifestyle, things just don't seem to going along as smoothly as you had imagined! What the heck happened, anyway? Well, I certainly hope you didn't toss that daily planner you used to fill out so religiously! You just might need to pull it out, dust it off, and put it back to work.

First and foremost, remember that you are still working. You are just working at home and not working at the office. It might help you to think of your office as having been relocated - to inside your home! You still need to keep a schedule, and maybe even a daily flow chart. It will just have different items on it. Instead of dealing with meetings, phone calls, reports, face-to-face chats with clients or customers or employees or "the boss," deadlines, "managing by walking around," countless interruptions, and all that, you will need to schedule time for focusing on the work you are doing from home, maintaining your home itself, your family, and maybe even YOU!

Take your planner out and come up with something that works for you. You might start with what worked before. In other words, if you had to be ready to leave the house by 7:00 AM, before, then be that way now. You don't have to be "all dressed up with nowhere to go," but you can be showered and dressed, etc. Many people find that they think more clearly and focused if they dress for the day - even if that is jeans and sandals. Do not work in your pajamas. Comb your hair. Shower. Have an organized workspace dedicated to your business. Assign times to focus on various activities, keeping in mind that none of this is etched in stone. Build your own individual situation into this, and remember that it is only a guideline. Your boss is not going to call you on the carpet if the schedule doesn't work unless you stand in front of the mirror and have at it! Remember that you have flexibility that you didn't have when you were working outside the home. You are the boss and you can arrange you day as you choose, to fit the needs of your family, health, interests, schooling, or whatever reason you chose to work at home. Keep adjusting until you find what works. It may need "re-tweaking" when school starts up or lets out, as days get longer or shorter, as the seasons change, etc. That's OK!

If you are thinking, "but I quit work so I didn't have to be scheduled!" remember that this is YOUR schedule, not someone else's. You can take as many breaks as you need, and you can take them whenever you need them, not when you are told to go. You are working into the schedule YOUR needs and your family's needs, not the needs of the company for whom you used to work. Because you have control over what is happening instead of being at the mercy of someone else, you can handle it! If you do not create a schedule and have enough self-discipline to stick to it, you will jeopardize the success of your business. Running a business is still work, and at times hard work. But running it from home gives you the control and flexibility to manage successfully and come out a winner!

And one last thing: you will never, ever have to come home so exhausted that you stand at the kitchen sink in your coat and high heels doing dishes because you know that if you stop to take them off, you will never get up to get the dishes done. And yes, I actually heard of some poor soul who did that.

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