After a long series of back-to-back business trips, I’ve been hunkering down and getting back to some semblance of a work routine. Or more accurately, a work un-routine.

While working from home, it is easy to get distracted by household activities or to wander from task to task instead of plowing through work systematically and checking things off a list. Besides carving out actual work time between family life, staying disciplined is a tough one for me.

I have no trouble staying motivated to do the work, but my attention flits from assignment to social media to a side project to another assignment. By the time the school bus brings my kindergartener home from her after-school program, I’m left wondering where the time went.

In the search for greater discipline, I began examining my home office habits. I like to joke that I love working from home because I can work in my pajamas. The not-so-funny thing is that I do which I think makes it easier to get complacent about time. I am also noticing that I’m not showering. What’s a day or two or three of going without a shower if I’m not seeing anyone?

The lack of showering should be noticed by my husband. But either he is too polite to say anything or really doesn’t mind the way I smell. Because I live in a very rural community and the temperatures are rapidly dropping to the minus double digits, I have little motivation - or need - to leave the house. Showering seems like extra effort for a limited audience.

If discipline is my weak point, then I need to change my ways. I need to develop an overall routine that gets me out of hibernation mode and into focus. Showering is step one. Putting on something other than lounge wear is the next step. I don’t mean dress up but certainly a pair of jeans and top rather than sweats and a t-shirt.

And then there’s exercise. I prefer working out in the morning, and with the dangerously cold winter weather here, going for a run or walk is out of the question. Instead, I should turn on the Wii as soon as the family is out the door and spend 20 minutes getting the blood pumping.

None of this may seem out of the ordinary for anyone who goes to an office every day. Wake up, shower, get dressed, breakfast and/or workout, off to work. But when working from home, the routine gets fuzzy between wake up and work. Getting rid of the fuzzy could totally transform my work life, don’t you think?

What is your morning routine before going to your work?  Where does it need improvement?