Organizing Your Tasks to Work From Home
Being self-employed and working from home has its benefits. Not having a boss to tell you what to do is most certainly a benefit from my point of view. The other side of this is that there is nobody to tell you what to do, and so you need to work this out for yourself!Planning and organization are essential to success. At first, this might seem overwhelming, but, with time, your work will become routine and seem much easier. Home computers have given us many wonderful tools to help keep track of everything pertaining to business, and this is certainly true in the area of time management.Be PortableBecause I work on two computers at once, a desktop and a laptop, and often work away from home, I find the free tools at Google Docs are indispensable. There is a complete office suite available there online. Because of the convenience of Google Docs, I have switched to doing most of my writing, project management, and note-keeping online.Since files are saved on Google’s servers, Google Docs is portable and you can access it from any computer, anywhere with an internet connection. You can organize documents in folders and subfolders, just like on your hard drive. It also works on either Mac or PC, using any browser.There is also a full calendar application, and an address book attached to Gmail. You can even give family members access to your calendar so that nothing gets forgotten. It has been a great boon to my productivity to organize online this way.I have even installed Google’s free Chrome browser exclusively for work use. I have only work bookmarks in Chrome and I need to switch browsers to check email or read the news. This has helped me to avoid distractions and get more done each day.Use a SpreadsheetA spreadsheet application is also available at Google Docs. List your daily, weekly, or monthly tasks on a spreadsheet and check things off as you complete them. This way you can make sure that the most important things are always getting done. Sometimes jobs that seem urgent aren’t really that important in the big picture. Having your most important tasks clearly laid out, and having a system to keep track of them, ensures that your business will keep moving forward.Use a Daily CalendarYou will have many tasks that are unique to each day. These won’t fit into your spreadsheet of routine tasks. For these unique tasks, you will need a daily calendar to remind you to take care of what’s important. Do not list your routine tasks in your daily calendar. Routine tasks are things that will become automatic over time. You must plan time in your day to get them done, but save the detailed, daily list of tasks for your spreadsheet.Your daily calendar can be a paper version that is always with you. Important events can then be transferred to Google Calendar when you return to your office. If you have a smart phone, you can update your online calendar wherever you are.Be FlexibleAs your needs change and your business grows, you will need to stay flexible in how you manage your time. Your tasks will need updating from time to time. You might look forward to the day when you can hire someone to take care of some of these things.Remember that one of the great benefits of working from home is being able to plan your time. This includes being able to spend a day with someone you love, being able to work into the wee hours of the morning, and being able to pursue the things that matter most to you.
