First, make sure you can handle being without normal social interactions and people-noise.  If you can get through a day without the need for distractions, you will be successful and actually complete more every day than you could “at work.”

Establish a Routine

It’s crucial that you have a routine to replace the commute, the coffee chop, getting the paper, etc.  You’ll have more time and be more productive when others are stuck in traffic, so make sure you establish time lines that keep you ahead of the pace

Organize your Workspace

Some companies will require office audits to ensure compliance with protective laws, safety, etc.  If you’re home office has a bar, you may want to hide it when the office cops show up.  But, get organized wherever you set up shop.  Lay it out – on a table, a desk, a TV tray.

Set goals

Be realistic and make sure you don’t stretch your day out just because you don’t have to spend an hour or two on the freeway.

Manage Distractions

Make sure the dog has plenty of water and don’t do errands while you’re working.  Most important, do not have the TV on in the background.

Establish Boundaries

Keep a schedule and don’t migrate to your home office after hours – it will seem like you’re working twenty hours a day and it can kill your spirit, your relationships and your productivity.

Be Accessible

Make sure everyone knows how to reach you, that you are reachable and that your responsiveness is never in question, especially during season openers for your local baseball franchise.

Communicate and Participate

Participate in meetings, dial in to conference calls, and be present when you’re needed – and look forward to it – make sure you tell people you’re productive, but that you miss them and seeing what they’re microwaving for lunch.

Share your Accomplishments

Let people know the score – what are you making happen for the benefit of the business.

Accept Accountability

Even though you’re remote, you are responsible for results.  Accept the fact that your level of control is different, but you have control – don’t ignore it.

Foster Strong Relationships

You need strong people back at the office covering your back – and your front.  Take care of them as well.

The news is constantly on the downside and it’s getting harder and harder for people to feel optimistic, but we have to or what else is there? Despair doesn’t pay either and one thing is certain – we will all get through this economy and will move into a positive cycle again.

But, what do we do until that “then” arrives?

CNN Money recently reported that a record 1.21 million people want to go to work, but said they aren’t looking because of the weak labor market. The June figure is up from 793,000 a year ago.

They want to find work – but the opportunities are so slim – they just don’t look.

This doesn’t mean that the unemployment numbers are going down, just fewer people are looking for work.

More people may have stopped looking for work because their jobless benefits are expiring, wrote Deutsche Bank economists Joseph LaVorgna and Carl Riccadonna in a note. To collect unemployment benefits, people must be actively seeking work.

This is not good.

There are five workers for every available opening.

Those who have been out of work for a long time will find it more difficult to land a new job, particularly if they are in sectors that will likely remain depressed, such as manufacturing and construction. They don’t have the skills to switch industries.

The labor force, in general, has shrunk over the past two months, contracting by 974,000 people as they lost confidence in their employment prospects. That reverses part of the gain of 1.7 million workers in the first four months of 2010, when a wave of optimism flowed through the nation.