My work from home survival guide...

Working from home takes some getting used to.
As I roll over to slam the snooze just one more time, I peek through the blur of my eyelashes and realize that it's NOON. I make the conscience decision to lay in bed just a few more minutes, besides I can just stay up really late to get all the work done and that will be fine.

I get up, make coffee, sit on the couch and watch an episode of Modern Family, then meander upstairs to the office. I sit Indian-style in my chair and spend the first 3 hours of the work day reading blogs and surfing pinterest. So you can probably see by now, my level of efficiency wasn't so stellar. It was a constant inner-struggle of weighing priorities against instant gratification. And the latter won the battle MOST of the time.

That has all changed.

Now,  this is how I work from home:
I set my alarm for 8 or 8:30, I wake up and usually go to the Y or do some sort of workout. We make coffee and have some sort of breakfast. We MIGHT watch a 10 minute clip of an episode or movie on netflix while we eat, but not always. Then we get dressed. We're in the office, diving into the work by 9:30 or 10am on most days.
There are times when it's a struggle to stay focused. For those days we have a few little things that save us from getting lost in that 'pinterest, stare-out-the-window, mind wander'.

Here is my work from home survival guide, EXPOSED for all to see.

1. My Mac book lets me go. GO. I work from the couch, from the patio, from the bed....wherever I want! My Blackberry keeps me super organized, and my iPod with Pandora keeps me sane.
2. Breyer's Chocolate Raspberry ice cream as an after lunch pick me up has become a regular routine!
3. My running shoes...or more so what they allow me to do. On a stressful day I step outside and walk around the block just to get my mind sorted out.
4. COFFEE!! We use a french press, so that makes the experience deliciously more fun!
5. My exercise band. This thing does everything. Release aggression, build strength, stretch. If you don't have one, GET ONE. You can get a nice little workout or just bump up your mood in 5 minutes with this thing!
6. ABC.COM is my friend. I can edit, email, blog or whatever with my favorite shows playing on the laptop next to me. This is good for days when music isn't cutting it.
7. Noise cancelling head phones. There are days when I wear them and I'm not even listening to anything. They just ground you, attach you to your own thoughts. I highly recommend these if you share an office with someone.
8. My "sippy cup" as we call them. Justin and I have about 5 of these. They're insulated plastic and keep ice water cold for hours. This keeps me hydrated because I tend to not drink a whole lot when I'm just sitting and busy. I fill this up in the morning, at lunch and that's enough water for the whole day!

Some other secrets:
-We record our hours worked with an online software called Toggl.
-We stopped reacting to each situation as it appeared and started scheduling and planning. It's easy to sit down and reply to every email every day, or each text or facebook comment, or each inquiry individually. We realized the days that we did that were the days we felt the most disconnected from our business. We now have allotted times for responding to messages, etc.
-We reserve free time during the work process. If I finish a big task, like make it through culling a collection of images, I can spend 10 minutes reading a blog or watching a cool video. Rewarding productive behavior has been one of the strongest motivators we've introduced into our workday!
- We take breaks and stretch, we turn the music up and we dance. And we play with the cats everyday!!

What are your work from home survival items [or secrets]?