Work From Home

• Have a healthy breakfast that gives you an energy boost, consisting of healthy carbs like oatmeal, good proteins like lean turkey, as well as some fruits and vegetables.
• Don't eat your meals at your desk. This form of multi-tasking will actually distract you and slow you down.

• Things from the work space should not leave the work space. You shouldn't be scrambling to find your important papers and office supplies in your bedroom.
• Ideally, your work space should have a door that you can shut. 

1)Write down your schedule for the day, week, and month-If you're working a full-time position which requires you to work 40 hours a week, have a goal of working regular hours, from 9 to 5 or so. You can start a little earlier or end a little earlier if it suits your needs, but you should be available during business hours so you can communicate with your colleagues.

• Keep a planner at your desk where you will mark the hours that you will work every day, along with any planned lunches, meetings, and even scheduled breaks.
• Every morning, before you dig in to work, review your planner to get a better sense of what your week and month will look like. If you have a lot of meetings set up for the end of the week, you should try to work a bit more at the beginning of the week to balance them out.

• You can designate certain tasks for certain days. For example, you can do all of your filing on Mondays, spend most of your Tuesdays communicating with your clients, start new projects on Wednesdays, and so on.
• You can reward yourself every time you check off an item from your to-do list. If each task takes about an hour to complete, tell yourself you'll have a snack, quickly check your email, or go for a 10-minute walk when you complete it.

• Have a firm understanding of any programs your office relies on, such as Google Docs or Excel. Poke around on those programs during your spare time and make sure you know exactly what to do during work hours so you don't get bogged down.
• Learn to love your computer. You should know exactly how to make your computer work as efficiently as possible. If you're serious about working on your computer, you may invest in a second monitor, which has been shown to boost productivity.
• Be the master of your phone. You should have a cordless landline phone to avoid any potential problems getting cell phone reception. Learn how to use your phone for conference calls, and how to use the all-important mute button.
• Be one with your printer. Learn how to print, fax, and scan all documents quickly and keep reserves of paper on hand at all times.

• Keep a cup with pens and pencils on your desk. Every month, go through them and throw out any writing implements that no longer work.
• Have an outstanding filing system. Whether you keep your files in your desk drawer or the filing cabinet next to your desk, you should organize all of your important papers in different and clearly-labeled folders and you should know exactly where your papers are.
• You can keep a filing tray on your desk where you place important documents that need to be filed, but makes sure to file them at the end of the day or week so you don't get bogged down.
• Keep office supplies handy. Staplers, highlighters, and post-it notes should all be on your desk or in your top drawer, so you don't spend an hour looking for them.
• Don't forget to go ergonomic. If you spent all of your time at your desk, make sure you have a chair that supports your back, and a keyboard and mouse that don't hurt your wrists. If you're typing all day, consider investing in an ergonomic sideways mouse or a split keyboard.

Be Professional

• If you have errands to run, don't get up in the middle of your work day to do them. You can quickly try to do an errand like running to the post office during your lunch break, just as you would during work.
• Avoid the temptation to clean your home. Though you may want to scrub down your floors and put away your dishes during a conference call, this will actually distract you from communicating with your colleagues and listening to what they have to say.
• Don't spend an hour catching up with your best friend on the phone, or hanging out with your friends during the day. You can catch up with a friend during a quick lunch break, but don't socialize too much during the day or you'll get off track. You wouldn't spend an hour catching up with a friend on the phone if you came in to the office, would you?
• Avoid texting your friends with silly messages during work hours. This will slow you down tremendously.

• When you talk on the phone with colleagues, make sure there are no distractions. Go to a quiet place and make sure your kids or family members don't interfere.
• Set up a Skype-friendly environment. Chances are that you'll be using Skype a lot for your conferences, so make sure you set up your computer in a space with a lot of light and with a plain, pleasant background.

• First, communicate the importance of your schedule to your friends and family. Tell them to call you only if it's important -- just as they would call you at the office.
• If you have children, create a schedule that works around their schedule so you have designated work hours when you don't need to be picking them up, making them lunch, or tucking them in for a nap. Don't try to do your work at the same time as you're taking care of your family.

• Make sure that you can be easily reached at all times. Check your email and work chat program (if you have one) as often as possible and keep Skype open on your phone if you use the program often and need to leave the house. Your colleagues should feel that you're just as accessible as someone sitting next door.
• If you can, visit your office from time to time so people know who you are. Take the time to meet the people you've been talking to, and let them know how much you appreciate them. If you regularly come in to the office for meetings, make yourself known by making great points and asking questions.

• If you think of something that needs to be done for work after your work day is over, write it on your to-do list and get to it the next day.
• To help create this distinction, you can change out of your work clothes into your everyday or relaxing clothes after work, so you feel less inclined to spend more time at the office.

Stay Focused

• Working in a coffee shop, library, or another place where people are also working can also be good for your mental state. You will feel less isolated and more part of a working community.

• Reward yourself by letting yourself browse the Internet every hour or so, when you need a break.
• If you really need your email to stay connected at work, then leave it open, but if you don't get any urgent messages, try to check it every half hour or hour or so.
• Do not chat with your friends while you're working. This will slow you down exponentially.

• If you're multi-tasking, you'll never be fully engrossed in one task and will be more likely to get distracted and to make a mistake.

• Try to go out for lunch or to pick up lunch as often as you can. Though you may spend some money paying for lunch, getting into this routine will help you stay refreshed and will split up your work day.
• Make a goal of leaving the house at least once a day. You'll start to get cabin fever if you don't leave your house at all.