Why it is Important to have a Plan when Working from Home

Have you ever not had a plan for your day? Well, let me tell you, that is something I just do not do, especially working from home. If I did not have a plan when working from home, it would be a complete disaster! I would get nothing done and it would be crazy! I would be running around my house, thinking I had time to run an errand when in fact, I was supposed to be in a meeting. Ugh! Let’s take a look at what it looks like when you don’t have a plan.

This picture is what it looks like when you don’t have a plan. I knew I was taking pictures on this day. Canceling was not an option. I had done it to my photographer earlier in the week and just knew I could not do it again. I did not try on my outfits at all. I looked in my closet and just let my imagination go and I thought, oh boy did I think, that I had the cutest outfits. There was no trying them on to be sure they looked and fit right. No, there sure was not. They were pulled out of the closet and held up and that was it. Great strategy, huh?

The day of the pictures was the worst, most Alabama weather ever! It was rainy and hot and humid. If you know where I live, you know I live in Alabama and we have yet to see a shred of fall weather. I have on my first outfit and I start sweating while we are shooting, because it is so humid, my clothes are sticking to every part of my body. And my hair, well let’s just say, it was straight when I got out of the car, but that changed really fast.

The second outfit is the one that is pictured. I mean, let’s be honest. You can give that outfit one look and know it is not the best look for me. The skirt is too much material and the top is too big. If you are a larger build like me, wearing bigger clothes does nothing for your figure. And those tennis shoes! While they are cute, they make that outfit look even more frumpy.

When my photographer messaged me that she had sent me the pictures, I pulled my car over to look at them. I just knew they were going to be good. Well, you see from the above picture, they were anything but. I should have tried on the clothes to be sure they looked good together. I even have a friend I could have sent pictures to and she would have given me her honest opinion. This is where not having a plan was not so good.

When we are working from home, it is important to have a plan. It is much easier to get off track when you don’t have someone breathing down your neck all day and you have much more freedom and independence. My best friend is my planner. I sit down every Sunday and plan my week and then on Monday’s I check my calendar for any meetings and put those in. I have a plan for my work and I know what I need to do. There is no flying by the seat of my pants here.

I love adding to my planner and I carry it with me wherever I go. And let’s not forget the satisfaction from marking things off your list. Every time my pen marks something out, I get so excited. I take my planner and fill it out. I know exactly what I need to do each day. If I did not have a planner, I cannot even imagine how bad my days would go.

When you have flexibility working from home, you can put off those tasks that seem boring, like work. You can get caught up on social media or television and there is literally no one there to be sure you are staying on task. You might have a deadline of something being due, but as long as you get it done by that date, you think all is good.

Proverbs 22:3 says, “The wise see danger ahead and avoid it, but fools keep going and get into trouble”.

The danger might not be anything crazy like in an adventure movie, but it happens when we put off our work to do other things when working from home. We want to visit with our friends, watch television, scroll social media and meanwhile, our work is still sitting there and deadlines loom over our heads.

If we keep going in this direction, we might as well be like the fools above and keep going. Soon, we will be in trouble. We will not have our work done and we will be struggling to get it done on time and accurately. We have kept going and not looked at the danger of not having a plan while working from home and getting our work done. We might lose our job and that will send us right out of our flexible schedules and the lives we love.

We all know that working from home is hard and it is easy for distractions to get in our way. Having a plan helps you to stay on track and complete your work. If having a plan still does not really hit home with you, just look at my outfit. Keep this image in your head. Whenever you think about not having a plan, think about how much better this outfit would have looked if only I had a plan!