Posted on June 26, 2009 by Tauheedah Haamid

It can be a challenge and a reward to work from home. There are advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered. The number one thing to take into consideration first and foremost is time management. Time management is a tool that can make your work both efficient and pleasant. If done right, time management can actually free up a lot of your time to do the things you enjoy with family and friends. The first tip for time management is to organize your day in time blocks. If you know you have an important project to work on and the deadline is soon, make that your first priority of the day.  Getting tasks like this out of the way can make you feel a thousand times lighter and make your other projects more enjoyable and less rushed.  Which would be the second tip, prioritize your tasks from most important to least important, by the end of the day all your important tasks will be out of the way and if you don’t have time to get to the remaining tasks, you can schedule to complete them the next day.

Working from home sometimes gives the impression that you have a lot of time on your hands and others will try to take advantage of this, thinking that you are just playing on the computer all day. Explain to your family that you actually have a real job and when you schedule your time to work, that means no interruptions unless it is an emergency, an actual emergency.  Sometimes that word gets thrown around a lot and what people think is an emergency actually isn’t, it is used out of context way too much these days.

So you have your time managed, your tasks prioritized and your work day scheduled. Now you need to find a quiet place free of distractions to get to work, preferably a home office or if that is not an option a quiet corner of the house where you can be comfortable and that is basically noise free. Now get to work. It will require some planning and fine tuning and a little self-discipline and the ability to say no to people when you are working but it is one of the greatest benefits that will afford you a steady income and peace of mind.