Work At Home

Here’s the deal – a lot of people think that working from home has got to be the best gig around (especially with rising gas prices) but surprisingly, it’s not the ideal work environment for everyone!

When you leave home and go to the office your never ending list of home-related tasks stay behind, but when you work from home it’s very easy to get distracted by them. In addition, the endless work-related tasks you face while working from home can be detrimental to your health.

Endless To-Do Lists

When your office is at home there’s potentially no end to the amount of time you could spend working and if you go that route, it’s so easy to put your health at the bottom of your priorities – you can always find the need to spend 10 minutes here and another 20 minutes there to get some work done.

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At first you might not think it’s a big deal to put your entire being into your business while letting your health slip, but I propose that your health is the most important business tool you own!

Your Health – Your #1 Business Tool

Think about this: your outlook on life in general (incl. your work!) is directly affected by your health. If you suffer from overweight, aches and pains, low energy, or are plagued by food cravings and sugar addiction, your work productivity is going to suffer. Your health affects your creativity, self-confidence, stamina, focus, and mental processes. Therefore I strongly suggest that you put your health at the top of your daily to-do list where it belongs.

Still not convinced?

Maybe you think you cannot spare 30 minutes a day to go for a walk (I understand, I’ve felt like that, too!) or do some strength training. Maybe you’ve just started a business from home and feel that you cannot spare one second because you need to start turning a profit a.s.a.p. Well here’s another thought: if you’re running your own business from home, how important is your mental attitude in relation to how successful you will be?

You see, when you’re working for someone else of course you give it your all and do your best, but when you’re running your own business you have everything on your shoulders – you must:

  • Be persistent
  • Remain positive
  • Produce
  • Be creative
  • Maintain your self-confidence
  • Stay motivated
  • Go for your goals
  • And above all, believe in yourself

If your body is in poor health this will directly affect your mental outlook, which in turn affects how far you will go in your business. Sound too “out there” for you? Well everything in life begins with a thought, and if your thoughts are damped down because you feel crappy living in your body, then you’re limiting your business success. 😉

5 Tips

Now that you can see how important your health is to your business, here are 5 tips you can start implementing now to get on the healthy track and thrive while working from home:

  1. Schedule your exercise – You schedule meetings, networking, and business tasks, why not put exercise in your schedule? Set aside 30 minutes each day to either go for a walk or pick up some weights and start building some muscle. You don’t need to go to the gym to do this but can do it right from home – most important is setting the time in your schedule to work out no matter where you choose to do it, and then honoring it.
  2. Use Twitter for accountability – Working from home you might feel isolated and it’s easy to tell yourself that you’ll “do it tomorrow”. Why not get on Twitter and start tweeting your fitness accountability? This is one way that I use Twitter and if it helps you follow through on your commitment by putting it out there, then it’s a good thing for your health.
  3. Leave the junk food on the store shelf – When you’re working at home alone give yourself every chance at health by stocking the house with healthy eats. If you leave the junk food where it belongs (on the store shelf!), you’re less likely to get into a cycle of addictive cravings and low energy.
  4. Drink that water – When you’re stretching the daylight you might tend to indulge in caffeine. I suggest drinking more water than coffee because caffeine will stress your adrenal glands and can lead to anxiety – not helpful in keeping you focused and calm in order to make smart business decisions.
  5. Set goals – Working from home requires discipline and self-motivation, both traits that you can apply to your workout routine. Just like you set your business goals, go ahead and set some fitness goals. You’re most likely a highly motivated individual since you are successfully working from home, so just apply the same trait to your workout routine.

These are just 5 tips to get you started. I think it’s also important to get up and stretch once an hour, eat clean (a diet filled with whole foods), plan your meals, and be sure to eat healthy throughout the day instead of putting it off while working and overeating at night. It’s good to start off small though, and add on more healthy changes while you go.

What About You?

If you work from home I’d love to hear how you keep health and fitness a priority in your life and how it has affected the success you’ve achieved while working from home!

This post is part of Wendy Piersall’s group writing project to help the work at home community.