How To Set Up a Productive Work From Home Schedule

Does anybody else get anxious and a little stressed out when someone hands you a schedule to tell you what to do? Back in my corporate days, I’d always feel more stressed out when I’d be invited to some random meeting during the worst possible times –for my work from home lifestyle.

And the same kind of anxiety comes during the advent of COVID-19 …because of all the schedules mom’s are posting for working from home, homeschooling, etc.

I get it —they’re trying to help. But a friend and I agreed that when we see those schedules, a rebellion rises up where we won’t do a single thing on the schedule.

Maybe it’s because we’ve been entrepreneurs for so long now that we don’t like people telling us what to do. 

But because of entrepreneurship, we know there has to be some sort of schedule so that we’re productive and actually get things done.

Over the years, I’ve collected different tips and hacks to create a work-from-home schedule that changes as life changes, and I’ve collected them into this one post.

This post is written around the context of planning your week on Sunday, which you can read more about in “5 Tips to Plan a Productive & Supercharged Week.”

Hack #1: Schedule your day around “anchors.”

There are some things that you have to do every single day. I call these “anchors.”

They help to mark changes and transitions throughout the day so you can move on to different tasks or events.

The anchors that work best are morning routines, meal times and naptimes.

Whenever I plan out my week, I start out with anchors or events (which we’ll get to in a minute). 

Taking my blank planner pages, I’ll pencil in my morning routine, lunch, and dinnertime.

If my kid took naps, I’d put naptime in too.

This helps to break up the day into smaller chunks …or at least morning and afternoon so that there’s a bit of change and transition.

Hack #2: Schedule events (aka appointments, meetings, etc)

There are some events that happen once in a while, like doctor appointments or a one-off meeting. 

Schedule these events into your work-from-home schedule next since it’s less likely you’ll be able to move those things around.

Now you’re ready to create a custom plan for the week.

Hack #3: Theme/task batch your days.

Some tasks have to get done every week. I batch my cleaning days, Facebook Live days, client session days, etc to guide my priorities.

It gives an outline for the week to build around instead of starting with a blank slate every day. 

Why reinvent the wheel if there’s a system to be put in place?

Hack #4: Choose your top priorities.

Brain dumping is the most useful thing ever. Seeing it all out on paper helps you figure out what the most important stuff is.

I like to write down everything that’s on my mind, then highlight the things that will move the needle and slash out the stuff that doesn’t really need to get done now.

Once I’ve narrowed it down, I can decide when I should work on each top-priority item on the list.

You could also have a priority that needs to be repeated every day, like teaching your kid to read. Choose a time of day, maybe paired with an anchor, to make that priority a daily action item.

Hack #5: Plan the week 

My favorite thing ever is batching, so it’s no secret that I batch plan. I plan my entire week out on Sunday because it’s too much work to figure out a plan every single day.

All I have to do during the week is take a look at the next day’s priorities so I can get into the right mindset to get my top tasks completed.

Create your Work From Home Schedule

These hacks can help you create a weekly schedule that works with your life and your priorities without feeling confused by a schedule someone else created.

Sometimes I get less creative when I use someone else’s template. But I don’t want to start with a blank slate. These 5 hacks can give you an outline of what to do:

1. Schedule your day around “anchors.”
2. Schedule events (aka appointments, meetings, etc)
3. Theme/task batch your days.
4. Choose your top priorities.
5. Plan the week