We are starting our back-to-school preparation in my house since school starts in just 3 weeks. Getting my kids back into the daily routine of the school year is always a challenge, no matter how old or (seemingly) independent they are.
As I watch my kids get back into their daily routines for school, I’m reminded of how important it is to establish routines for a home office – instead of just waking up with no plan or no schedule for the day. Our kids perform better and are less stressed when they know what is expected of them every day. And that works for us too.
The importance of establishing routines in your home office is huge: with no one but yourself to measure how much work you get done each day or how long a lunch break you take, every little work habit (good or bad) is going to have a dramatic effect on your business success.
The task of sticking to daily routines and habits is the challenging part – everything looks so much easier to implement on paper than in reality.
We’ve heard many times that it takes 21 days (or attempts) for something to become a habit. So make that your first goal: get your calendar out and put a target date on it. Keep track of yourself as you stick to your daily business routines for 21 days (or attempts).
Everyone’s routines will be different depending on your home business, but breaking down your routines or systems on a monthly, weekly and daily basis can help you keep it all organized and do-able.
1. Assign specific tasks to certain days of the week.
For our business that means that accounts are invoiced on Mondays, payroll is done on Fridays; blogs posts are assigned certain days, the newsletter is sent the same day every week, and so on.
2. Tackle the most challenging tasks at the time of day when you are at your “peak performance”.
For me this means that my most difficult tasks (or the ones I like least) are done in the mornings. I’m not a night-owl and would never tackle a complicated spreadsheet after 8pm – getting those more difficult tasks done early gives me a sense of accomplishment that adds momentum to whatever else I work on that day.
3. Don’t give up when the unexpected happens.
Many times, I’ve put a brand new business system into place only to miss the deadline when something unexpected happens with the house or the kids. Because my office is in the house, it sometimes seems much easier to just “give up” on establishing business routines – “What was I thinking? How can I make any routine stick when the washing machine breaks, the kids get sick or family drops by?”
Just remember that no routine in your home business is going to be perfect overnight. That’s probably why it takes 21 days (or attempts) to turn an action into a habit. So if you didn’t stick to your new routine this Thursday, that’s okay! Plan to stick to it next Thursday. By plugging away, little-by-little, day-by-day, the routines you are establishing in your business will become second nature…but only if you keep on doing them!
When you establish and stick to daily routines in your home office, your productivity will benefit. With systems in place, you eliminate the stress from planning and reacting to the same issues every week – you are now in the habit of getting those tasks done at the assigned times. You can then find time to be more creative – to set higher goals and reach for bigger dreams.
“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.”
Mike Murdock
photo credit (derived from): markus spiske via photopin cc