Work Habits and the Home Based Business

It is important to have good work habits. <---- That is a basic statement that everyone can agree on. Most of us think we are organized, punctual or efficient. The reality is we are usually not at the level we need to be to succeed. We self sabotage by procrastination, fear, laziness or lack or self reliance or personal responsibility.

Planning your week out so that you have goals and objectives for each day, your meetings and to-do list are laid out is a great way to stay on the track to success. Stephen Covey in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" said "We are at risk for getting caught up in the 'Thick of Thin Things' when we don’t plan the important goals and meetings up front."

What do those thick things look like? Going shopping, watching TV or any distraction you find to avoid do your important items first. If you work from home, it can be a great way to save money, but the daily duties and demands of home life can eat up a ton of your time. You may get started on that proposal at 8:45, right after the kids left for school. But then you stop to get a load of laundry going, grab that last yogurt -just a quick snack. And so it goes, you check to see what's on TV or call a friend and talk way past your original intention.

All of the sudden, it is 2:30. The proposal is still waiting on you to fold that laundry, hang up the phone or get another snack before the kids get home from school. When i worked at a bakery cafe, we would sometimes not be ready for the lunch rush--started staging food too late, didn't prep enough salad or the shift was too light on staff. Either way, we were in 'the weeds' That's what we called our 'thick of thin things'

Once we can identify what distractions keep us off course we can prioritize our tasks and start our road to success. We can create new habits that will soon replace our old productive one.

Covey called this Habit putting “1^st Things 1^st.” Set aside time in your schedule to make 1^st time phone calls and have lunch with potential customers and clients. Follow up is important because less than 5% of people will buy the first time they hear from you. Make your follow-up phone calls, persistence will pay off.  Most sales will take 8 or more follow-ups to go through. Have you ever heard of the phrase the “Fortune is in the Follow-up?”

Remember the 80/20 Principle. The 80/20 principle (also known as Pareto’s rule), was first formulated by the Italian thinker Vilfredo Pareto. When this is applied to personal productivity, it presupposes that 80% of your results come from only 20% of your efforts, and that 20% of your results are the product of 80% of your effort

Basically, the 80/20 principle states that we are usually inefficient. We do not devote as much time and energy as we should to our most important tasks.

Take time to organize your time, ideas, projects and commitments. Five to ten minutes each morning to go over your plan for the day. Keep a notebook by your side to write down any ideas or appointments that pop into your head. Even by your bedside at night. Some of the best ideas come about when we are settled down and not in the work mode.

Depending on what your business is, you will need to tailor your work habits to your particular situation. Listed below are a few books I recommend to help you decide which work habits you want to define and polish.