I was turned on to this idea as a first post for my new blog after checking out this link.  The always professional team at Sparkplugging has provided a list of questions on readers’ minds and has given the community as a whole an opportunity to come together and share knowledge.

I really wanted to participate when I saw this question:

* How to manage your time better while working in a home office?

This is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart for two reasons:

1. I love spending time with my son
2. I love spending time I should be working with my son

I could also tack on a third reason
3. The Food Network’s programming is best during the day

And I should tack on my wife, the dogs, the Internet, etc., etc.

Many office workers yearn for the freedom and openness of working at home, but not everyone realizes how much of a minefield the home office can be.  At least not until they

• Start off their morning will a full to do list
• Stop to watch one interesting segment on the television
• …Look up to see that it is already noon.

Yes, we have all been there.  To be fair, those who work at an office may still find that they goof around the office only to notice a few hours have gone by, but in an office setting, this seems more permissible somehow.  I think it may be that some many of us who work from our homes, at least some of the time, are our own bosses and unfortunately hours spent learning to make truffles from Ina Garten are not billable.

So how does one stay productive in a home office?  Frankly, I am partial to the PAR System, of course, I developed it.  But even without having developed it, there are underlying principles to the system that make it highly applicable to the home office worker struggling to keep focus.

The PAR System teaches you to:

Plan Your Day.  Start the morning off by sitting down and rewriting your to do list and then ranking the most important items.  This provides a clarity of purpose for the day and makes it easier to focus on the task at hand (work.)

Act on Your Plan.  Once your daily priorities are clear, it becomes a lot easier to ignore distractions.  If I know that I have to have an article due in two days, it becomes a lot less important to see what’s on TV.  When a major client deliverable is looming around the corner and I have four milestones left, that gives me that bit of discipline to remind my wife that I do still work from home.  (Though the key there is that I always make sure the plan includes time to spend with her and my son.)

Reward Yourself.  Life can’t be 100% about the to do list.  Down that road is early gray hair and ulcers.  This is why the PAR System stresses that as goals are met, rewards are received.  As the top prioritized items are checked off the to do list, schedule some time to watch a few minutes of TV or go run with dogs.  Why not, you’ve earned it?

There’s no shame in denying that doing non-work related activities like those time killers mentioned above are way more fun than writing, programming, creating spreadsheets, or whatever you do with your home business.  That is why it is important to reward yourself with them. 

However, the key is moderation.  No binge rewarding!  Do not spend two hours in the park to reward yourself for fifteen minutes of labor or else you’re right back where you started.

The other key, though, is consistency.  It is much easier to accept only stopping work for 15 minutes if you know that once you clear the next thing off your to do list you’ll have another 15 minutes.

To summarize:
• Know what you have to do today
• Know what is important to do today and what can wait
• Do what is important in order of importance
• Give into your hedonistic side in small doses as critical items are completed
• Then you’ll be productive

And if you want to more about the PAR System, download the special Guidebook at www.theparsystem.com/guidebook