3 Tips to Stay Focused When Working From Home
Well, you could lock the refrigerator but it probably doesn't have one. The point is, you have to get rid of the distractions when you are working from home.
It's not rocket science -- especially if you are a non-technical lawyer. But for some reason, we like really simple solutions to stay focused at the home office.
1. Turn Off the Television
Because you can watch television, movies, and video content anywhere on a mobile device, what you really need to do is turn off your viewing habits. Consider it a techno-fast.
Americans are way overweight from media consumption, spending about half their day staring at a screen. When our eyes are not glued to our work monitors, they are looking at some other device.
It's so bad, people are watching shows while they are driving. Please, people, put the device down and focus on the task in front of you.
2. Disconnect the Phone
Actually, many businesses have already cut the phone lines. It's a wireless world now.
And so you need your smartphone, but you don't have to take every call. That's why you have voice-mail. Staying focused at work is about eliminating distractions.
If you have a home-based practice, it might be a good idea to employ a phone service to field calls. Clients generally want to talk to somebody, not a recording machine.
3. Unplug the Refrigerator
So this tip is a joke because nobody wants your food to go rotten. But if you want to focus on work at home, you have to leave the food alone -- most of the time.
Breaks are good, but they should not turn into extra meals. And when you do take a lunch break, it's best to stick with a simple menu. No time to bake a chicken soufflé or roast a pig.
Like an egg timer, working from home is really about time management. Statistics show 22 percent of American workers are doing it at home full- or part-time, but their productivity depends on what they are doing with that time.
For lawyers, that's a big, billing deal.
Related Resources:
- How to Stay Focused When You're Working from Home (Harvard Business Review)
- Myths About Lawyers Working From Home (FindLaw's Strategist)
- 5 Simple Ways Lawyers Can Improve Their Productivity (FindLaw's Strategist)