by Stefanina Hill

Created on: August 19, 2008   Last Updated: December 07, 2011

Working from home brings many advantages in terms of flexibility and comfort. You can work when you want, have a break when you want, listen to your choice of music and spend your working day in your pajamas if you want to.

As liberating as all this is it's important not to equate working from home with being on holiday and drift into a way of life where work is either not done or done badly.

Assess yourself

When in the position of deciding how and when you work you have the potential to increase the quantity and quality of what you do exponentially by structuring the way in which you work.
When you work for someone else there are set break times, the environment is not in your control and you cannot fully control who you meet or interact with during the day.

Companies have systems of organization which you adhere to and these systems are designed to produce maximum efficiency across a work force but on an individual level the chances are that you won't work to maximum efficiency in any structure that isn't created specifically for you.

The key to maximizing your efficiency is to build a clear and honest picture of your ability to concentrate upon your work. Do you work better at night or right away when you get up? How often do you need a break from a session of work and how long do those breaks need to be? If you slot in household or personal tasks into your breaks do you still feel as refreshed as when you play a game or get going with some physical activity?

Different aspects of work

If for example you had a home business making handbags you might divide your time between making the bags, promoting them to potential customers and managing the accounts for your sales of the bags.

It's likely that the extent of your ability to concentrate will differ for each activity. Many people find accounts dull and can only concentrate on them for short periods of time, if this is the case then a separate strategy needs to be made for working on accounts. This specific approach might be the construction of prearranged slots in the day where the accounts are worked on and a rule of no distractions such as music playing during those slots of time.

When it comes to activities which you find easier to do then you may play music or even watch a film as you work. Often when working in an office environment concentration on repetitive tasks is difficult even though they are technically easy. By carefully managing your environment and working methods during any task which is

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