Working from home is not a cake walk, although some people insinuate that we can do what ever we want -- We can't.
You see, working freelance, under an agency or a company that gives the option to telecommute has its challenges. It's still work, we get paid for it may it be hourly or by project. Believe me, there are a lot of temptation especially when you are at home as opposed to working in an office since you are physically incapable of let's say, doing a load of laundry in the washing machine after finishing a page in a spread sheet of 5 pages.
I have been subscribed to www.FlyLady.net for a few years now and I suggest it to everybody working from home or not. It taught me that I can do anything in 15 minutes, it does not need to be perfect but it needs to be done period.
Of course as a VA doing data entry work, you are expected to do your task with accuracy, and for accuracy you need to be alert! How can you even make sure everything is accurate when you are all over the place doing 2 things at the same time? That is where timing comes in, I don't have a small timer ( I think I should get one though) but I use my cellphone's stopwatch and my new favorite site www.online-stopwatch.com, I can set it as a stop watch or a countdown timer that beeps when its done.
Multi tasking has been studied to be unproductive, the set 15 minutes will be focused on one job and one job alone. May it be a quick 15 minute break or a 15 minute zone to concentrate on a spreadsheet or on social media marketing, after the 15 minutes I have to take a break or do something else to decrease the risk of burnout because if there is one thing that is an enemy of working in front of computers is the headache you get from eye strain.
I also time my water intake to lessen the headaches and body pain related to the job which is mostly caused by sitting down for long periods. I think this is a good experiment for those who read this, try it only one day or at least an hour and see how productive you can be. :) I am sharing this tip because I have found this to be very helpful and has increased my overall productivity and mood.
xoxo
Pat <3
