Organizing Your Home Office:
Grow Into A Routine

Work schedules can intimidate some, while others function well within certain time constraints. If you work in your home office only when you feel inspired to work, you will either spend a minimal amount of time in your home office or work too many hours.

Follow a work schedule as much as possible to keep your productivity high and your motivation strong. You may feel more productive in the morning, so schedule your important tasks for that time. If you feel inspired after lunch to tackle big projects, schedule those tasks in the afternoon.

Of course, if you're balancing your home office life with kids, you won't be as flexible as someone without that additional responsibility. It's unreasonable to think you'll be able to work when the mood strikes you unless you have live-in help or able to alternate your schedule with your spouse. Some parents discover they are more productive after having children than before, simply because they have less time to work and have to accomplish more. Fortunately, technology (especially e-mail) makes it easy to work at odd hours, yet still communicate with clients.

A phone ringing all day will limit the amount of work you complete, unless you screen your calls. The easiest way to screen calls is with Caller ID. Other options are to use your answering machine to screen calls or let your voice mail take messages for you. If a ringing phone is too tempting while you're working, turn off the ringer. If you need to be available to take calls, start work earlier or resign yourself to working after hours. 

The beauty of working from home is the flexibility it affords. Whether that flexibility is a liability or an asset depends on how far a home office professional pushes that flexibility.