Work From Home Schedule
When I was a brick and mortar teacher, my schedule was made for me by the school. I am not a planner at all so a work from home schedule was very difficult for me. In fact, I’m embarrassed to say that it took me a good 3.5 years to get a solid work from home schedule. Well, to be fair, it took me two years to build my online teaching reputations and make a solid living. The third year I was narrowing the focus of my business. Once I had a good salary and a business focus making a schedule became easier.
It doesn’t have to take this long for you, but if it does, don’t feel bad! It all depends on your work or business goals. If you have one main job, making a schedule is a piece of cake because you’ll just focus on your one job schedule and your housework. My main suggestion if you’re just focusing on one job is to choose the same work hours each day and set those hours on a monthly basis. Then add in other priorities. Focus on one priority at a time and moderately disperse it into your schedule.
If you have two jobs or if you are working on building your own business you’ll really have to get focused. I’m sharing tips on how to do that in this post. Grab the free planner below to help you with your focus. Did you know that writing your goals actually helps you accomplish them? There is a trigger from the brain to the spine that happens when you write your goals by hand. Don’t believe me? Check out the article about the power of writing down your goals here.
freebie work from home schedule planner
Monthly work schedule
Being that I was not a planner, the thought of writing a monthly schedule used to feel overwhelming? The reason it felt overwhelming is because I didn’t have a focus. I had a dozen ideas and was excited about all of them. So then I ended up accomplishing way less than what I could have if I focused on just one thing. Being that I run an online business that’s what I’ll be using as an example.
If you have a dozen ideas write them all down. Every. Single. One of them. After you’ve written down your ideas, categorize them and then choose one way to deliver those ideas.
You can layer your categories or do a series on them. I choose to deliver my content on my blog. I do a Facebook live once a week related to my most recent blog post. Then I have a video editor add text, images and other edits to upload it to my YouTube video. I spend about 10 minutes on my Facebook live and 15 minutes sharing the content. I spend about 30 minutes on my YouTube video talking with my editor and uploading the video.
My blog posts take the longest. I chose blogging because I absolutely love it despite how long it takes me. Each blog takes about an hour, maybe more depending on how long it is, how many images I need to create, and the research I have to do.
If you don’t like blogging or video, you could do a podcast.
I highly recommend Amy Porterfield’s podcast on creating a 3 month content calendar. I’ve been the most focused I’ve ever been in my business because of that episode. She explains how to get ideas for content, how to plan it, and why to show up weekly for your readers, listeners or viewers.
Monthly Work Schedule 
Daily Work Schedule
daily work schedule
Once you have your monthly schedule focus on one to three things a day depending on how long they take. Do NOT get upset if you don’t accomplish what’s on your list. Just do it the next day and adjust your schedule as necessary. The freebie I have above includes both a monthly and daily schedule planner.
planning tools
The best planning tools are planners. I write mine down by hand and electronically. Be sure to research the type of planner that makes sense for you. I prefer simple planners because they are straightforward.
Mine is similar to this on the inside. Grab your’s here!
Productivity improvement
If you’re working on productivity improvement be sure to narrow down your focus. One thing I learned about is doing a brain dump. Get all of those ideas out on paper and then prioritize them based on your interest and your audience’s needs.
focus for work
Drop the distractions and make your focus for work. Put your phone aside, stop checking e-mail and social media. Make the decision to work a set number of hours without distractions.
advantages of teleworking
Once you get your focus and a consistent work from home schedule you will really reap the advantages of teleworking.
- autonomy
- creativity
- being your own boss
- making lunch at home
- no colleagues to interrupt you
All your hard work is worth it. You’ve got this!
This is a great post! I think teaching online requires a lot of structure and you have to have a lot of self-discipline of you want to accomplish even more and grow in your career. I like the idea of planning out your content in advance and I am so excited to listen to the podcast you mention about planning 3 months in advance. One thing I would like to mention is the importance of using post-it notes and posting visuals on white-boards and on walls in front of you so you can see them everyday and be reminded of your plan of action. I set a date for the online course I want to create and it motivates me to look at that date every day. Thanks, Nikki!
Anne, I love your tips! Thank you!
Really enjoyed reading this. I think that’s so true about the value of writing by hand. Will be reading that article about the signals from hand to spine.
And I love planners so I’m looking forward to trying this one. Maybe it will help me to manage my study commitments alongside my work goals. Do you know the pomodoro technique? I’ve found it really helpful for establishing focus while maintaining a balance.
Also, do you set a limit to the hours you let yourself work each week? I’m wary of doing too much or not enough!
Hi Sarah! Thank you so much. I appreciate your comment. I think I’ve heard of the technique, but I didn’t know the name of it. I just looked it up. I do set a limit on how much I work. In the past I didn’t and I continually burned out every few months from not setting a time limit. Creating a routine has really helped me be more productive in less time.
Okay so I burned out at the weekend. I think I better set that limit. Finally got around to printing off the planner and I’m working on a better schedule now.
I reread this post just now and wondered if you could say a bit more about the following;
“After you’ve written down your ideas, categorize them and then choose one way to deliver those ideas.”
Some detail about categorizing ideas and choosing how to deliver them would be really helpful. I’m trying to get clarity on how to apply this to my own goals and I’m not sure how I would categorize them. Also, do you mean choose one way to deliver each idea or one way for them all?
Sarah, what’s your niche? If you want, send me an e-mail. I think you already have it, but if not it’s coach@nikkilubing.com.