Helllooo beautiful!

Have you been following the VA Course updates on Instagram?

If not, come on over! The behind-the-scenes and last minute happenings are always freshest over there.

And now, let’s get to today’s topic:

 

👩🏻‍💻🌀 How to stay focused when working from home.

In other words – how to set yourself up for success while working from home.

 

Now, I know you are expecting a bullet point list with dos and don’ts. And I have said list for you! However there are a few things to consider when trying to follow other people’s guidelines:

Working for yourself, in your own schedule, setting your own rules might sound all fun and pink roses {and it is most of the time! 😃} but also, it IS a brand new way of working that we have not been prepared for.

We go to school as kids and teenagers, following specific rules and restrictive outlines on what it means to succeed on those institutions. Then we are out there in the work force, working with other institutions with their own set of clear yet restrictive rules of what it means to succeed within their world.

 

We get used to it and we know how to operate really well from this kind of approach >> someone else telling us what we need to do to get great results.

 

Now when working for ourselves, the beauty of creating our own rules can also turn into a bit of a struggle if we are not used it.  As in…. you are your own boss. You are “reporting” to yourself only and no one else.

If you don’t follow certain rules? Your boss might be pissed at you {you inner critic} while being at the same time very unfairly punitive for the perceived mishap.

And so love, when working from home and setting up your business around your lifestyle, there is a LOT of experimentation that will happen.

You will do things by default as you learned out there in the work force. Some of those things might work for your natural flow or not. And the more you do it the more you’ll be able to recognize right away when an old way of doing things is lingering around {and shake it off!} or when something truly fits you and your productivity style.

 

Meaning, the more you practice, the more you get to now yourself as this new person emerging - a business owner not the employee anymore - the better you'll get at creating habits + and environment conducive to REALLY getting things done with ease.

 

 

So ALL those formulas or “dos and don’ts” that you see out there about online business, take it with a grain of salt. Experiment for yourself and find the way things best work for YOU!

Having said all that, let’s get to the bullet point list I promised:

 

👩🏻‍💻Your Home Office Space

 

Ah, of course! “Set a specific work area to get yourself in the mood and create a routine!” people out there would say.

And I totally agree. However!!!

Always keep in mind WHICH kind of mood are you trying to create.

For instance, my “lemme-get-things-done-and-cross-my-to-do-list” Self totally needs a specific designated workspace to operate from. She sits straighter in the chair, the table is spacious to have all her notebooks and there’s the handy coaster for her tea. Oh, in that environment she’s FAST, productive and she crosses items off her to-do list like it’s her last day on Earth! 😃

Now my “lemme-focus-on-this-time-consuming-task-that-I-am-not-sure-how-long-it-will-take-to-complete-and-might-or-might-not-be-fun-to-do” Self…. well, she will not work well in the designated office space. She does need to feel extra comfortable. To feel that she can go into the long hours and keep her focused attention on that ONE complicated task without the discomforts of an office chair for instance. She needs to curl up her legs, lean a bit to the side to be extra comfy, use her lap as desk and coze up in the couch.
Oh yes! That’s how she best focus and create good work. Comfiness is paramount in this situation.

👉🏼 Do you see what’s happening love? Each situation, requires a diff work space. And each work space is set up that way to help us stay productive in different circumstances.

 

👩🏻‍💻Your Schedule!

 

Oh yeah, this is THE one we crave on, ya? THE one we dream of as the representation of freedom that comes with our business! 😀

And it so is! The tricky part thou is to actually allow yourself to create a schedule that truly works for you.

• Refusing to take meetings before 1pm? Check ✅
• Making it clear IN YOUR CONTRACT that you will pop up in the clients inbox at 7pm because that is your regular working hours? Check ✅
• Setting up strong boundaries for the Implementation Days which happen only on certain specific days of the week? Check ✅

Those simple three rules that I live by today took me a while to be ok implementing and standing by them. Specially when someone would question them. After all isn’t the workday “supposed” to be from 9am-5pm? And am I not working every day of the week?

Nope.

We know that in theory we create wherever schedule we want.

👉🏼 But truly building that oh, so dreamed planning around YOUR lifestyle will require some balls😁 Old patterns and rules will come up to put you back on what is acceptable for a work plan and you will have to stick with your new rules!

 

 

👩🏻‍💻Your Lunch break + Snacks!

 

HA! Funny to add this one, I know, but in the long-term it will impact your health + routine.

I used to struggle with this one A LOT. I have never been consistent with set times to eat even before working for myself because I never liked planning meals ahead. I didn’t like to plan when to eat nor what to eat.

Working from home it all got worse because I would snack on my desk as a new way of feeding myself 😬

Over time, even thou I still don’t plan meals {really hate doing it!} I started being more intentional about allocate time to eat while doing it AWAY from the computer.

Now here is the sweet balance I had to also find — when things got busier and more chaotic with work I had to be ok eating on my desk when I needed to and not beat myself up for it! Specially because on already busy days, having to add another layer of to-dos with the meal planning AND finding a way to step away from the computer to eat , would stress me out even more!

👉🏼 So knowing that this was a VERY temporary situation {a few days only} and that I’d be right back at the regular “set up” helped a lot to release the pressure and find my own lunch/snack schedule as I went along.

And magically NOW I barely have days like this anymore! Time + place to eat are easy to figure out and no guilt involved whatsoever!

 

👩🏻‍💻Turning off Notifications!

 

Another one that took me some time to be ok with. People out there will tell you to turn off all your phone notifications to keep your sanity and I couldn’t agree more!

But oh, how hard it was in the beginning!

I really wanted to make sure I wasn’t “missing something” or that I “was there” for my clients if they needed me and so reactively responding to email notifications and even social media notifications {which I really dislike!} were regular practices for me.

👉🏼 It took time to get away from it but the key here was to actually create systems to communicate with my clients as well as clear boundaries << THOSE darling things were the true ticket to freedom! 🎟 😀

Expectations were set right and notifications could be turned off now permanently.

It is peaceful over here on my phone, I can tell you that. 💆🏻‍♀️🍃

 

Now love, those are my main tips for you to build a work-from-home productive approach that you can cary on the long term.

As you see from the beginning and within each item…

The key here is to find what works FOR YOU.

No cold turkey change of habits to then beat yourself up because you can’t maintain them.

Gradually try things and see how they work for you. Some, you will find out that the best flow for you will be to go totally against the grain! Others will just be an easy smooth ride from ways you are already used to do.

Regardless love, as you are learning about and digging into your journey right now as a work-from-home person start testing what works for you NOW.

Set times to watch that webinar, read that post, do the worksheet on that ebook. See where you feel more productive and exactly what was the task about? Did you stay hours focused on it? Did the snacking happened mindless in front of the computer or did you brave through starving yourself? 😬

Use the time as you learn about how to set up your business to also learn about yourself and your relationship with this new work + life style.

THAT is the ticket to setting yourself up for success when working from home >> knowing yourself and your own flow more and more each day.

Try it! It will be fun! 😀

Many Smooches,