Realities of Working from Home!
Realities of Working from Home
Working from home, for myself, is something I’d always felt would be amazing, freeing, enjoyable, no stress!!
Oh, how wrong I was!
Now, don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be all the above (well maybe less stress rather than no stress!). It all depends upon how well organised you are, what your approach and attitude are, how structured you can be.
Plus, it will also come down to how well you can manage distractions and the pull into doing house and personal ‘stuff’!
There’s also Netflix and social media to contend with!
Admittedly you could say it was a gradual transition for me into this work from home thing.
If you look at how it came about you could say I eased my way into it.
Truth is, even when I worked for others, when I worked in education, when I was a manager, when I was in a whole range of roles for companies other than my own, I was always doing ‘their’ work from home anyway.
I’m not sure I’ve held any job which did not involve some sort of ‘having to do work at home’ element.
Especially education, as any teacher will tell you, lesson planning and preparation does not get done in ‘office’ hours and, in one of my jobs as a manager for a private company I was told that I was theirs 24/7!
So, working from home was not a completely alien concept for me.
But, being my own boss was definitely an eye opener for sure.
I was in charge of me! Full time! Not just for personal things but for the work side too!
It started on a part-time basis when I set up my first company, Pangaea Fitness & Training, running health, fitness and nutrition classes under my own steam.
I was still working on other roles for other companies but then over a period of years, I slowly withdrew from doing so.
Until I found myself working in my own business full-time, not answerable to anyone else except myself.
It was me who made the decisions, me who determined the direction of my company, me who was responsible for it all!
Scary stuff, right?!
Yes and no.
It was scary because now I was totally in charge of, and responsible for, my working life, for my business, for all the ups, downs and in-betweens.
It was exciting because now I was totally in charge of, and responsible for, my working life, for my business, for all the ups, downs and in-betweens.
It was and still is both scary and exciting and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What I would have wanted to know though, when I first started, is how to best make the most of working from home.
To have some tips, tools, strategies, techniques, practices that would have enabled the transition to be somewhat smoother.
In order that I could have gotten to where I am now that little bit quicker and been more efficient and effective on the journey!
So, that is what I have put together for you, if you’re considering, or already are, working from home.
Some practical things you can be doing along the way to ease your way in or improve what you’re already doing.
Making the Most of Working from Home
1: Plan, plan, plan!
Imagine you are working elsewhere and what you would do there. You would have structure, you would have a day that was organised, you would know what you were doing and when.
Do the same.
You can’t afford not to.
If you don’t your days will disappear, you will get caught up in non-work things, you will be less productive and efficient than you need to be.
Have a planner, a scheduler, a diary.
Be intentional with what you want to get done each day.
Include blocks of time to focus on bigger projects.
2: Get Up as if you are going ‘out’ to work
Yes, you work from home, you don’t have the ‘travel’ element to worry about but … you still need to get yourself up and ready to work.
Have a routine, it doesn’t have to be the same every day, but make sure every day you know what time you are getting up and what the first things are that you’re going to do.
Otherwise, you can find yourself taking your time getting up, taking longer than you need, drifting through your day with no real awareness of your time or what you need to get done.
3: Remove distractions
Whatever it is that you find distracts you when you need focus, remove! End of!
Remove Netflix and social media from your computer if you find it difficult to resist the temptation to just watch or scroll for 5 minutes.
5 minutes will turn into many times 5 minutes believe me!
You can also block access for periods of time if you prefer this.
4: Take breaks
Working from home it’s not always easy to be as disciplined as you would be working for a company or someone else where, often, lunch breaks, are incorporated into the working day and you tend to have more official start and end times.
Depending upon your job of course!
When you are planning your days make sure you include a ‘proper’ lunch and be clear with your start and end times.
Yes, sometimes you will deviate from these which is fine, just don’t allow it to be become the norm.
Also, allow breaks for movement, for just getting up and away from what it is you’re doing to refresh your mind.
Put on some music, have a dance, read a chapter of a book, whatever will shift you from what you were doing.
5: Tell others when you are and are not available
The last thing that you want when you are fully engrossed with something, or on the call to a client, is to be disturbed.
After a few mishaps whilst filming videos, or going ‘live’ on social media, I now put a sign on my outside door so that anyone who’s passing and just ‘popping’ in knows that I am busy!
Yes, these things have to be considered!
Anticipate how and/or when you may be disturbed and take action to pre-empt this.
Working from home, being your own boss, doing your thing, can be daunting, challenging and seem like too much hard work.
Yet, if you take your time, do your research, know what it is you want to do and your why, combined with taking the above practical steps, then you will find it that bit easier, that bit more rewarding and definitely more enjoyable!
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