So,
you work from home. Good for you! No boss looking over
your shoulder, no wasting time commuting to and from the office,
no-one setting your hours for you or telling you what to do.
No
one to care if you're wearing your rattiest clothes or don't take
a
shower before 10:00 am. And how about no life and no time
for
yourself while we're on the subject of what you don't have any
more? Sound familiar? If so, read on.
Escaping the regimented
structure imposed upon you by the
corporate world may have been one of the driving forces that
prompted you to seek a way to work from home. One of the
often-overlooked advantages of such a structure, though, is that
it IS a structure. It has limits, it places you at a certain place
at
a certain time, and it dictates what you will spend your time on.
In other words, it establishes boundaries in your life. The
boundary between work and home, work and play, on duty and
off duty, company time and your time. You could leave work at
the end of the day and your time was your own.
Sure, you may
have had other obligations but at least your work
was confined within the boundaries of a workplace and a workday.
Working from home,
for all its advantages, can sometimes have
the disadvantage of removing the boundaries between work and
home, work and play, work time and your time. For some, the
problem may manifest itself as a tendency to procrastinate when it
comes to work activities or a lack of personal self-discipline may
become unavoidably obvious. For such people, the formalized
structure of a workplace separate from the home may suit them
better than the independence and autonomy of a home business.
This article,
though, is concerned with those at the other end of the
spectrum. Those who have absolutely no difficulty at all in motivating
and disciplining themselves to work from home. So much so that their
home business literally takes over their entire lives.
In my time online,
I've heard many people say that they sit at their
computers for 18 hours a day working on their businesses.
Oftentimes, they will still be working at 3:00 am and go to bed at
7:00 am for a few hours before getting back in the saddle. They
say
this as if it is something to be proud of. I don't know about you,
but working from home, when and if I am finally able to achieve it
on a full-time basis, will be first and foremost a lifestyle choice.
By that I mean
I expect my decision to work from home will result
in an enhancement of my lifestyle in that I won't have to commute
for over an hour to get to and from work each day, if I want to start
at 5:00 am and finish for the day at noon I can do that. If I want
to
work all weekend and take two days off during the week I can do
that too. I can choose the projects I want to work on, I can retain
the rewards of my own efforts and I am answerable to no-one but
myself. Although I understand that I will work as hard or harder
at home than I do at the office, I certainly have no intention of
merely exchanging one form of prison for another.
So, it perplexes
me that some people seem to think it is a Good
Thing to shackle themselves to a desk for 18 hours straight and
break only to snatch a few hours sleep before starting all over again.
But, if that's how they want to live their lives, that's entirely their
business.
But what of those
who want more balance in their lives but find
they simply can't 'flip the switch' on their home business so that
home becomes a retreat again once the workday is over? If this
is you, here are six suggestions to help you turn off your business
and turn on your life.
1. Confine
business activities to an exclusively "work" room
If possible, confine
your business activities to a certain area of the
house, preferably a room that is exclusively used by you as your
place of work. The advantage of a room as opposed to an unused
corner of the living room is that when work is done for the day you
can literally and symbolically shut the door on it. Out of sight,
out
of mind. If you don't cordon off your work area in this way, you
will be reminded of work whenever you enter the living room. Even
though you may not be physically engaged in work, you will still
be mentally engaged and that's the same thing.
2. Separate
communications systems
Have separate
communications systems for home and work. That
is, you have one telephone for home and one for work. The same
for fax machines and any other forms of communication. When
you are working, you should have your home answering machine
on. When you are home, you should have your work answering
machine on.
3. Establish
a routine and structure similar to the workplace
As stated earlier,
the structure and routine of an external workplace
has the advantage of allowing you to leave work behind at the end
of the day. By establishing a routine and structure similar to a
place
of work, you can still benefit from this advantage. Now obviously
you
don't have to be as regimented as you would be if you worked in a
corporate office.
You don't have
to start at 9:00 am, work till noon, take a one hour
lunch break and then work through until 5:00 pm. You can set
whatever routine and structure you like. The important thing is
to be
disciplined in sticking to your routine, whatever you decide it is.
If
you prefer to work from 5:00 am through 10:00 am and then from
2:00 pm through 4:00 pm that's fine. This structure allows you to
enjoy the hours from 10:00 am through 2:00 and after 4:00 pm as
your own. There is room for flexibility here. Work however
is most
productive for you but stop once you get to the end of your allotted
work time. If you haven't finished what you started, then pick it
up
again in work time. Don't allow 'your' time to be encroached on
by
work.
4. Minimize
distractions and interruptions
By implementing
suggestions 1., 2. and 3., you will also be
establishing an environment where distractions and interruptions are
minimized. For example, if you have school-age children, by
scheduling your work time to coincide with their school time, you will
minimize the distractions and interruptions you will inevitably face if
you try and work while they're at home. By having separate
communications systems, you won't be interrupted with calls on
your home phone while working (your answering machine should
be getting these calls so you can return them on "your" time). By
having an exclusively "work" area in your home, and making sure
that other members of your household respect this space for what
it is, you can help others remember that when you're in your room
you're working and are not to be interrupted for things that can wait
until you're "home" again.
5. Rituals
Rituals can play
a useful role in flipping the switch at the end of the
workday. For example, you may already have a routine that
sees you working until 6:00 pm, the time your partner returns
home from work. Perhaps you share a glass of wine together at
that time. Why not think of your shared glass of wine as an "end
of workday" ritual. By making a habit of doing this, your mind will
soon learn to associate that glass of wine with the end of the workday
and flip the switch on work in automatic response.
Another idea is
to wear a certain item of clothing while working so that,
when you take it off at the end of the work day, you mind makes the
connection between its removal and the end of work time. A baseball
cap, a particular pair of shoes, whatever it is doesn't matter.
6. Plan
to take days off and vacations
Finally, when
establishing your routine and work schedule, don't
forget to schedule days off and vacations. And make sure you take
them. You may decide to take Saturdays and Sundays off, or your
"weekends" might be Tuesdays and Wednesdays or Mondays and
Fridays. Whatever works in best with your lifestyle, do it.
The same goes
for vacations. Don't underestimate the rejuvenating
effect of taking a week off entirely. Not only is it good for your
overall
health and mental wellbeing, you will probably find that you are that
much more productive when it comes to getting back to work for
having taken a true time out.
Hopefully you
can see that working from home does not have to
mean turning your home into a place of work. Working from home
as a lifestyle choice should mean that the quality of your life is
enhanced as a result of your decision, not diminished. By practising
these simple disciplines day-in and day-out you can be sure that
even though you are taking care of business, you are also taking
care of something even more important. Life.
_________________________
Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning
weekly ezine,
A Home-Based Business Online, a down-to-earth publication
containing practical home-based and online business ideas,
telecommuting job listings, original articles, free e-books and
much more. She also runs the A Home-Based Business Online
website at at http://www.fawkner.com.
You can subscribe to
her newsletter at the site.
