- Keep Track of Your Time. Obviously, time tracking is important is you are working with billable hours. But, you should also keep track of all the time your work at home so that you can become better at scheduling your time and see if you are achieving your home-based business goals. You may have a goal of working only five hours a day, but find that doing so doesn't create enough income for you. If you wait six months to figure out your profit and productivity, you will be in for a shock and it may be too late to fix the problem.AS you write down your hours and tasks throughout the working day, remember to include all work related activities including things like answering emails or doing paperwork. If you don't list them as work, you probably won't think of them as work. Make sure you also leave time in your schedule for these type of items or you're scheduling will always be off. That is unless you like the thought of stopping everything else and spending the entire weekend trying to catch up on your paperwork.
- Stay on Your Work Schedule. Once you determine how many hours a day you want to work and when - stick to it. The big advantage of working at home is that you can decide when to work. If you find the best time is in the afternoons and evenings, work then. If you are working around the need of your spouse and/or children, you might find that getting up very earlier in the mornings will provide you with some quiet time. Whatever work schedule works for you, be consistent with it. Your work will go much easier and more efficiently if you stay on a regular schedule.
- And Be Realistic. Unless you are single, have no social life, and never answer the door, chances are you are not going to able to work ten hour days when you work at home. While you can cut down on those interruptions, you can't stop them. So, determine how many hours you can actually sanely, safely work and try to stick to it. The only thing that staying up late to get some more work done is going to get you is sleep deprivation, not more money. And we all have days that end up being full of constant interruptions. Don't let it upset you. That's part of life. You can go back to your schedule tomorrow.