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.
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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
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