Tips on Multi-Tasking and Staying Disciplined

Whether you're working from home online or your own business or you're working outside of the home it is always very tricky when it comes to getting things done for the day. Let's face it, we do not have enough hours of the day to get every single thing there is to be done, finished. So you need to come up with a simple strategy for multi-tasking. I have a few ideas that may help you along your way.

For stay at home mom's who work from home it can be harder and I don't know from experience because I don't have any children. But I can tell you how hard it is even when you don't have children to take care of. I have 4 big dogs of my own, 8 cats that come and go but still need taken care of, 5 puppies that I am waiting on someone to take off my hands (I did have 10 but have found homes for half of them thank goodness) and also a disabled husband that has needs. I have often times wanted to scream at all of the things I have to do and don't have the time to do it in and felt like pulling my hair out but somehow I manage without doing any of these things or driving myself and everyone around me crazy in the process.

Here are a few things I do to keep myself somewhat organized:

First off before I start on online multi-tasking I always get my housework and make sure my animals, husband and I are all fed. This is very important to me because I can't work on an empty stomach or work in a dirty house.

Logging on to get my work started.

I make a list every single day as to what I need to get done online. I discipline myself to not go anywhere else besides what is on that list first. Discipline, to me is very important because without disciplining myself I tend to get sidetracked and end up not getting anything done. So definitely remember to discipline yourself.

Getting the more important things done first.

If I am in the mood to write, my articles get done first, then if I find any tasks that are open on PayPerPost or Blogitive I make sure to reserve them and write them as soon as I can. These are the most important aspects of my online work because they pay the most and we need that money fast. I have to admit I haven't had any article ideas lately, a bit of writers block, but I followed my own advice on my Tip's on Overcoming Writer's Block article I wrote a while back and have gotten out of the hole, so to speak.

Going to the least important things.

When those are done I write some personal blog posts in my blog but sometimes I write those ones before the sponsored ones. It depends on if I have something I need to get wrote down in my blog before I forget it. I have 4 blogs that I try to keep maintained. Not easy when I have a whole lot of other stuff that needs done also. I try to keep these blogs maintained because one is a depression blog, another is my journal, I have a blog that I do to write blog reviews, and my main one is where I talk about the programs that pay me. I have been lagging a bit lately with these blogs because we just recently moved into a bigger trailer from our smaller one and I had a bunch of cleaning to do and unpacking. Everything has calmed down for me now so I am back to work.

Checking email and other things.

Next I check email and while I am doing that, since my more important things are done, I open up another tab in Firefox and check blog stats and a few other sites that pay me to do little things, like paid to read emails. Never before would I have done these but I have found ones that really are legitimate and it is easy money to do in your spare time.

When you're doing paid to read programs, and hopefully you're using Mozilla Firefox for this, make sure to keep several of these sites open at once. This way you can go from one to the other and click until your heart is content and earn a little bit of pocket change in the meantime. With the programs I have found it is a good idea to keep these windows open in different tabs so that way you can click over and refresh the page to see if there are anymore ads to view. If you don't do this someone else will get these ads and earn the money you should have earned. I learned this little idea from a good friend who owns one of the forums I visit quite often. See, this is a good reason to make sure to visit forums, to learn these little tricks that can earn you more.

Visiting Forums.

The last thing I try to get done before my time online is over for the night is visit forums. I make sure to visit at least 3 forums everyday. A couple of reasons I do this is because not only do some of these forums pay you to post but if you are in need of some extra traffic to your website or blog then this is the way to do it. This is also a way to relax when all of your important things are done online and a great place to meet new friends or catch up with others. I have also found that forums are a very good place to learn about new traffic programs, money-making opportunities and all sorts of different things.

So when you're online and find yourself with way too many things to do like I have then consider using the Mozilla Firefox browser. This will let you have several different tabs open so you can do several things at once. Also make sure to keep that list and stick by it everyday or you will find yourself behind like I did and ready to scream because you can't get caught up on everything. Stay disciplined and try to not get distracted. This also goes for family and friends who decide to call while you're in the middle of work or when they decide to drop by unexpectedly. Do not let anyone or anything keep you from getting your work done unless it is an emergency. Most importantly though you need to learn to take breaks and take a day off. When we work away from home we often can't wait until our days off to get away from the workplace but working online is different because it is more fun, can earn you more which will make you want to work more, and can make you want to take on too many things at once. Take a break from the computer every once in awhile or you will burn yourself out.