Having a job where you can work from home can be an awesome experience. You set your own hours, which can make your life so much easier. If you wake up late, want to go to an early movie, or would like to have a long lunch with your friends, you can take it and you don’t have to get permission. It works especially well for those who like to take long weekends, or want to work hard for a couple weeks and then take a couple weeks off.

But working from home can be very difficult for some people. Because it is so lax and you can schedule your own hours, sometimes time can get away from us and we find that we aren’t getting as much done as we would like. That can get very frustrating for the people you work for and you because you probably aren’t getting the job done.

It is in our human nature to procrastinate our work, so if you work from home and are struggling to be as productive as you want, here are a few tips to keeping on task.

• Set a schedule and stick to it. One of the most important things to do when working at home is to set a schedule of when you are going to work, just like you would with a regular job. Whatever hours you decide, write them down and get in the habit of working those hours. Make sure you always start and stop when you have scheduled and always stick to it. If you don’t stand by your schedule, things will fall apart quickly. If you stick to it, it will help you get in a routine and will also help you get all the work done you need to.
• Try and get more work done at the beginning of the week. When scheduling out your week, try and schedule as much as you can at the beginning of the week. This will help you stay on task early on in the week, and then give you an easier weekend. Plus, if you work hard for a couple days at the beginning of the week, you will be able to relax and do less work and not fill guilty because you have gotten what you need to done.
• Don’t let your family life distract you. It may be hard to do, but when you schedule out your time, that means you can’t help with the small things around the house. When you are working, that is your time to work. Don’t let small things distract you. Let whoever is in your family know that you are working and that they need to treat it like a regular job. You can’t just stop whenever you need to. Obviously things come up, but try as much as you can to stick to the hours you have schedule and don’t let your family life distract from it.
• Have a set work place. Set a place where you work every day and always work there. Don’t move your work to the kitchen, your bedroom, or any other place. Always work in a designated area. This will help you stay on task and keep away ouside distractions from keeping you from your work.