ARE YOU TIRED OF WORKING AND TRAVELLING MORE THAN 40 PLUS HOURS PER WEEK, WITH LITTLE TIME OR ENERGY TO SEE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY? LEAH GIBBS TAKES A PEEK AT MAKING WORKING-FROM-HOME WORK.

There are many people who are well suited to flexible working patterns and working from home not only improves their productivity but greatly enhances their quality of life. If you control your own workflow, you can enjoy a full, balanced life, achieve a better overall use of time and create a happier family. Successful home based workers have discipline, self motivation and high level organisation skills.

While it can be difficult to balance the needs of both your work and your family at home, it allows you to free up time normally spent commuting or in unproductive meetings. The important thing to remember is that your home based job deserves the same attention and dedication as an office position.

This means that at around 8 or 9 am you can be sitting down to work, and if you set yourself a schedule and focus your work, you will be ready to pick up the kids (or go shopping) at 3 pm. Make sure that you don't get into the trap of working later and later... better to schedule sometime in the evening when the kids are fed and tucked in bed fast asleep.

The most important advice I can give is that babies and toddlers need to have someone they can go to at any time, so family day-care or babysitters can be invaluable for the work-at-home Mum or Dad. You cannot focus or make phone calls with a young child climbing up your leg and demanding your attention. And, it is not fair on you or your child. Housework too can wait until that 3 or 4 pm knockoff time. Don't feel guilty about it you are not super-mum. Day care can really help with your work output and most of all your sanity.

Making it work is all about time management. In normal office work, most people spend about half of their day actually doing their work. The rest is in meetings, taking internal calls and emails, and of course a bit of gossiping. When you work from home, if you take that mindset with you, you will fail. The growth of your business, whether service or product based, rests on your ability to plan and achieve the most important tasks first. Brian Tracy, in his book ‘Eat That Frog' suggests:

"You can overcome procrastination and keep going with a great plan".

You will find the adoption of a simple diary and setting tasks at the start of the day (or the night before) is very important. You see, when you set out major and minor tasks in the order of priority, and check them off as you go, it saves a lot of time. Tracy says that 10-12 minutes of planning can save up to 2 hours ‘muddling around' per day. Believe me, this is true, especially with the amount of email received daily that interrupts our workflow if we let it. Completing tasks also unlocks our creativity and mental powers.

So, plan ahead, get organised, remove distractions and go for it.

Leah Gibbs is the Business Manager for Lifestyle Careers a new online job board aimed at professionals wanting to balance their work and personal life. For more information or to look for flexible working opportunities visit www.lifestylecareers.com.au