While working in medical transcription, you may have the opportunity to work from home.  While working from home is convenient and allows you more flexibility.  With this in mind, working from home requires a certain degree of self discipline and motivation to ensure you stay busy and on task.  If you do decide to work from home, there are some tricks for you to follow to help you succeed.

1. Make sure you're comfortably seated when you start.  If you aren't comfortable, you'll continue to be distracted and have a harder time concentrating.  Just don't be too comfortable or you'll be likely to fall asleep.
2. Working at home can cause for loud music, blaring television, and many other various noises, but when working from home, silence is important.  You need to be in an environment that is quiet and gives you the opportunity to truly concentrate.
3. There's no shame in asking the person on the other line to repeat something slower or ask them to spell something out.  When it comes to medical transcription, it all needs to be accurate so if you're unsure of how to spell the name of a drug or cannot understand the doctor's name, ask now.  It's better to have asked several times than to make a mistake that could cause serious problems.
4. The website has this advice, "If your transcriber has a "tone" adjustment, make sure it is set to make the dictator's voice sound "raw" - i.e., little or no bass. Do the same if you have a "bass" control. Removing as much bass as possible allows the words to be heard more clearly. Unfortunately it may also accentuate any static on the tape/digital audio file. Try adjusting the tape/digital audio file playback speed from very, very slow to fast. Sometimes varying the speed of the tape/digital audio file will allow you to pick up on what is being said."
5. If you continuously work with a certain medical facility and you notice one doctor in particular is usually a bad dictator, speak up.  By gently telling the doctor or the medical office that Dr. So-and-so needs to speak slowly and more clearly, you're not only saving yourself a lot of time, but reducing the number of mistakes and therefore potentially saving the office money.

What other tips do you have?