10 New Year's Resolutions for Telecommuters & Home-Based Business Owners

1. I will set business/office hours for myself - Yes, part of the benefit of working at home is being able to report to work in your pajamas; but, if you aren't careful that freedom can become detrimental to your "work-a-home" success. Organization is imperative to your success and organization begins with your establishing a "work routine". For example, if you take the children to school at 8 a.m. and are back home by 8:30 a.m., perhaps you want to give yourself time to have a cup of coffee and read the paper, so set your office hours to start at 9 a.m. Setting business/office hours will also help you to actually see how many hours per day you are really working.

2. I will respect/honor my business/office hours- It's easy to set hours, but adhering to them is a totally different thing. Many people will assume that because you are home, they can call at any time of the day to chit chat. You might also have friends/family just drop by because they are in the neighborhood. It is up to you to respect your hours. For so long I put the onus/burden on others, I'd say, "this phone keeps ringing and ringing, don't they know that I'm working", but everytime I'd pick up the phone. My picking up the phone and talking as if I had nothing else to do gave the impression that, well, frankly, I had nothing else to do. So again, you must honor your business/office hours first. When you honor them, others will honor them.

3. I will try to complete one task at a time - I have been credited with being multi-tasked, meaning I'm able to do 10 things (more than one thing) at one time. This is partially true - I can do 10 things at one time, but I cannot do 10 things at one time and do them well. The problem - well, I'll begin writing an article or working on my blog and my mind goes to the clothes that need to go in the dryer. I pop up and go put the clothes in the dryer, throw another load in the wash and come back to writing. Now where was I? Where was I going with this? I've now lost my train of thought. The solution - write a quick note to myself reminding me to get the clothes out of the dryer but continue what I'm doing. The laundry can wait another 30 minutes.