One of the best things about working at home is that you can decide when or even if you want to work at any given time. Since you are your own boss at least to some degree, you should structure your business in a way that works for you and your situation. What’s more, it can vary if you don’t like to be in a rut doing the same thing all the time.
At the top of the charts of the best things is the fact that you do not have to be shocked into consciousness by an alarm clock. You can get up when you wake up. Start counting from there if you need the discipline of committing to a certain number of hours you will work each day. You can work a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the evening or whatever fits – it’s ok as long as you are taking care of business.
A really nice way to look at time is to take as long as you need to get everything done that you need to do first thing, and then you are free to spend the day however you would like. It’s really very healthy to get out of the house on a regular basis. In fact if there are any drawbacks to working at home it is that you can get so involved that the day is gone before you know it and it may be too late to do anything outside.
This particular situation brings to mind one way that we can get lost and in this case we are not really being productive. We are wasting our time and our energy. That is with emails. Obviously this can get completely out of hand if you are not very particular about where you leave your email address. You can get bombarded each and every day and if you are under the delusion that you can read and respond to everything, well it won’t be for long anyway.
Reading email should definitely be restricted to say one-hour a day or less unless of course these emails are directly related to the customer service or support of your own business. Then of course they should be a priority and you should work it as long as necessary to stay current. If at all possible and if you really want to shine, always respond within 24-hours – 48 at the max for exceptions like a day off, or holiday.
Whatever you need to do, either get it done and get out of the house, or do some now, get out of the house and come back and finish your work later! It is very important for your health – physical and mental to get out in the fresh air and sunshine and to get some exercise. You are not doing anybody any favors to sit as if mesmerized in front of your computer all day and night, day in and day out!