Why do we Procrastinate

It is time we take a look at procrastination, a subject very dear to my heart and a bad habit I am finding myself struggling with today (it is strange how appealing the ironing can look). We all can have the tendency to procrastinate. However when it gets out of control to the point of affecting your potential success, then it is time to do something about it.

What is it about procrastination that makes it such a problem? You may think that you are spending all day busy working. Only the reality is that you have been avoiding the important and necessary tasks in favour of the simple/easy ones and haven’t accomplished anything vital.

How can you reduce your procrastination? It is important to realise early when you are procrastinating, and then put the steps in place to stop and focus back on your work.

In order to be able to reduce the amount time being wasted you need to work out why you are procrastinating. What is it about that particular task you are avoiding?

*Is it a task you don’t enjoy?
*Are you afraid of not being perfect
*Is the project overwhelming?
*Are you unsure where to start?
*Do you doubt that you have the skills or knowledge needed?
*Some possible solutions to those reasons could be.

The project is overwhelming. What you will need to do is break it down into smaller more manageable pieces. Initially decided on the first few important steps and start with them. For the rest of the project keep viewing it as small and manageable tasks and not a big scary project.

I don’t enjoy the task. It is important to find a way to motivate yourself, there are many different methods which could help but we will focus on a couple. Method 1: decide on a reward that you will receive when you have completed the task. Make it something really worth while, something that you would definitely be motivated to achieve. Method 2: spend time focusing on what the consequences would be if you don’t accomplish the task. Is it worse than actually taking care of the task in the first place? Is it a consequence you could live with? If not, than get motivated and get to work.

It must be perfect. We all take pride in our work and want to do a good job, but you need to remember that there is no such thing as perfect.

I have looked at a few reasons/excuses for procrastinating. In the next article I will investigate other tips and tricks to reduce your procrastination and start to accomplish more.

Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Basic Office Set Up

You want to start working from home, but are unsure about what you may need. This tip is a rundown of some of the basics you should consider and what you may need when setting up your very own home office.

1. Choose a designated work space.
2. Select computer equipment needed.
3. Decided on furniture with health & safety requirements in mind.
4. Design the office ‘lay out’ to best suit the type of work you will be doing.
5. Establish the biggest and most effective storage and filling system you can.
6. What communication tools do you need to be successful at your job?
7. Initially invest in the minimum amount of office supplies needed.
8. Ensure you have significant lighting.
9. Include personal touches that will inspire you.

Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home Tips: Saving Time PT2

The past couple of blogs I have been looking at ways you can improve your time management and accomplish more. First there was creating your own time diary, and then part one of the time management tips. Now here are more tips in part two.

1. De-Clutter your office.
2. Streamline the paperwork and filing.
3. Have systems for repeat activities.
4. Group similar activities together.
5. Take action straight away.
6. Establish deadlines.
7. Reduce potential distractions.
8. Set boundaries around how you are willing to spend your time.
9. Delegate the tasks that are not the best use of your time.
10. Reward yourself for a job well done.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home Tips: Saving Time PT1

In the previous blog I talked about creating a time diary in order to learn where your time is currently being used. From there you can start making changes to your day to day actions and accomplish more.

1. Use your time diary.
2. Understand that you must manage your time, not time manage you.
3. Know what you are working towards (set goals).
4. Create a ‘to do’ list.
5. Create routines for regular tasks.
6. Prioritise what is important.
7. Set targets for the week.
8. Set tasks for the day.
9. Establish regular working hours.
10. Take regular breaks.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Make a Time Diary

Have you ever wondered where all your time goes, or why you can’t accomplish as much in a day as you would like? One way to improve how you manage your time is to keep track of how your time is currently being spent by compiling a time diary. To do this you should:

1. Have a piece of paper handy.
2. Commit to recording for a week.
3. Write down that time you started a task.
4. What you did.
5. Why you choose that task.
6. When you finished.
7. Include everything you do.
8. Include non work related tasks that may be stealing your time.
9. Review your time dairy at the end of the week.
10. Have you noticed a pattern regarding how long certain tasks take?
11. What surprises were revealed?
12. What time of the day is your most productive?
13. What is the biggest waste of your time?
14. What is the first change you can make?
15. Use what you have learned in how you schedule your day.
16. If need be, continue your time diary for longer.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert.
Helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Benefits of Working from Home

This list is limitless, but if you are working from home but not enjoying these benefits it is time to contact Purely Peppermint

1. Flexibility.
2. Better lifestyle.
3. More time for yourself.
4. More time with your family.
5. Freedom.
6. Setting own work schedule.
7. Lower business set up costs.
8. No commute.
9. Higher productivity.
10. Being the boss.
11. Reduced stress.
12. Choice.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Having Focus

Some days you are able to fly through several tasks and complete more than you had scheduled. Then there are the days when you just can seem to concentrate on anything specific and spend a lot of time doing very little. What can be done to improve your focus it has become blurry.

1. When are you most productive?
2. Work on one task at a time.
3. Prioritise.
4. Have a clutter free work space.
5. Take regular breaks.
6. Work around your family needs.
7. Remove distractions.
8. Have a target to work towards.
9. Set aside time to work uninterrupted.
10. Know your priorities.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Boundaries to set

When you are based at home, it can sometimes be difficult to keep the different areas of separate. The office may spill into other rooms, the hours may spill into the weekend and interruptions may be a drain on your time.

To help with that delicate balance you may want to set boundaries around some of the following.

1. Your working hours (including breaks).
2. How much overtime will you do?
3. Working weekends.
4. Time lost through interruptions.
5. How to be contacted.
6. Dealing with constant emails.
7. Dealing with potential work offers that do not fit your values.
8. Anything that is not an effective use of your time.
9. Have a clearly defined work space.
10. Keeping your office contained.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Successfully Working from Home pt 3

I realise that there could have been more than three parts written about successfully working from home, but this will at least give you a few new ideas and tips to try.

1. Create your own perfect office environment.
2. Set a boundary around interruptions.
3. Establish an effective filing system.
4. File regularly.
5. Create systems for your regular actions.
6. Automate the business activities you can.
7. Group activities.
8. Stay focused on the task at hand.
9. Compromise.
10. Remember mistakes are really learning experiences.
11. Exercise.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Successfully Working from Home pt 2

See what tip you find helpful from part two of how to successfully work from home.

1. Have a defined work space.
2. De-clutter and organise your office.
3. Make sure you have the offrice equiptment needed.
4. Always be professional.
5. Dress for work.
6. Do not work 24/7.
7. Reduce distractions.
8. Get your family on board.
9. Don't become a hermit.
10. Network or join a business club.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert,
Helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Successfully Working from Home pt 1

Working from home can offer so many benefits to your life, so I have compiled a three part list of tips on just how to successfully do that.

1. Keep home and work life separate.
2. Set working hours.
3. Establish a routine.
4. Set goals.
5. Have a daily/monthly/yearly plan.
6. Learn to say no.
7. Know your strengths.
8. Identify your productive peak times of the day.
9. Do what you are good at and outsource the rest.
10. Build a support team.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert,
helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tip: Keeping a clear desk

If you are honest, how effective is working from a cluttered desk? I have seen desks that were piled high with everything imaginable and clients that were trying to work on top of all the mess. This is not a recipe for success.

The recipe you should follow is:

1. Remove any and all items that do not belong on your desk.
2. The desk is no longer a dumping ground.
3. Establish a paperwork management system.
4. Create a storage system.
5. File regularly.
6. Action each piece of paperwork immediately.
7. Have the recycle bin and shredder close at hand.
8. Keep personal touches to a minimum.
9. Focus on one task at a time and have only that paperwork on your desk.
10. Use one diary.
11. Tidy and clear your desk at the end of the day.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert,
helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick fire Working from Home Tips: Ineffective Office

I have seen how frustrated my clients are while they struggle to work in a crowded and cluttered office. I have also seen the beneficial results of clearing that clutter and I know which one is a more successful office.

Is your office inefficient because it is filled with?

1. Used kitchen dishes.
2. Unused exercised equipment.
3. Unusable computer parts.
4. Misplaced items.
5. Piles of books.
6. Piles of clothes.
7. Piles and piles of paper.
8. A suitcase.
9. Broken furniture.
10. Packaging boxes.
11. Arts and craft supplies.

What do you need to clear from your office?

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The Home and Office Organising Expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home Tips: Paperwork

Well what can I say about paperwork. It is never-ending, it seems to increase all on its own and it is certainly not the most exciting part of working from home. Here are a few tips to help you with your paperwork.

1. De-clutter files.
2. File little and often.
3. Establish a filing system.
4. Label filing.
5. Handle paperwork once.
6. Make quick decisions regarding what action to take.
7. Ask ‘do I really need to keep this?’
8. Be selective in what you keep.
9. Keep filing categories broad.
10. Take action straight away.
11. Choose to file, action, bin or shred.

RegardsRachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick fire Working from Home Tips: Managing Isolation

There can be the odd day when all the benefits of working from home seem like a distant memory and you start feeling a bit isolated and lonely. Put in place a few of these tips to prevent this from happening.

1. Have all your office communication tools in place.
2. Join a working from home organisations and meet likeminded people.
3. Use the telephone instead of sending an email.
4. Arrange meetings at a business centre.
5. Have lunch away from your desk.
6. Get outside and get some fresh air.
7. Attend networking events.
8. Attend work socials.
9. Remember to communicate offline as well as online.
10. Have a business mentor or coach.
11. Include exercise in your schedule.

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick Fire Working from Home tips: excuses for avoiding work

When you work from home there are so many distractions and countless ways to ‘avoid work’, because of this you need to keep your focus and ‘avoid’ any of these excuses.

1. I will quickly do the laundry.
2. The dog needs walking.
3. My emails need to be checked.
4. I need to update my Face Book profile.
5. The grass needs cutting.
6. The dining room needs repainting.
7. There are errands to do.
8. The junk mail needs sorting.
9. There are a few groceries I need to pick up.
10. I’ll tidy the kitchen.
11. I must spend the afternoon with a friend who dropped in for a chat.

What excuses are you using today and is this really helping you in anyway?

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The home and office organising expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.

Quick fire Working from Home Tips: 'to do' lists

To do lists are like Marmite either you love them or you hate them. If you find lists a helpful tool in organising your day, this tip will increase the effectiveness of your list writing skills.

1. Dedicate a few minutes each morning to plan.
2. Review your schedule for the day and quickly overview the week's schedule.
3. Have your day planner to hand.
4. Fill in the commitments that are already confirmed.
5. Schedule in tea breaks, lunch and finishing time.
6. Decide on the 3 important tasks for the day and add them to your 'to do' list.
7. Establish the habit of scheduling important tasks and be proactive not reactive.
8. Get to work.
9. End of day review.

How successful has your list been today?

Regards
Rachael Ross
Purely Peppermint
The Home and Office Organising Expert, helping individuals and businesses establish a successful home office.