TJ Walker argues that working from home requires a strict schedule to stay productive. He recommends time-blocking your day with concrete targets: 7:00 write 500 words, 8:00 meditate, 9:00 make a video, 9:15 deep work. Without structure, you'll drift into news-surfing instead of actual work.
Chapters
So how's your telecommuting going? If you're like a lot of people, you're relatively new to this. You've perhaps only done this for a couple of months. I've been telecommuting on and off since the 1980s, and I found a few things that work and don't work. One thing that doesn't work is just giving myself complete freedom to do whatever I want, when I want. I remember back in the 1990s, this was before social media. It would be noon and I'd still be looking at news sites, websites, just floating around, surfing. What works for me is giving myself a very, very strict schedule in the morning. That's when I'm most productive. By 7am I want to have written 500 words. By 8am I've done meditation, gone through all of my habits for the day. By 9am, I've made a video and posted it. By 9:15, I'm in deep work. You don't have to have my schedule, but you need some schedule or your day will slip away.