When you work from home and have a family, it's sometimes hard to get family members to respect your work time. They know you are working, but feel it's OK to interrupt at any time. This can be a tough problem to resolve.
Maybe wearing this T-Shirt a few times might help get the message across.
This may not sound like a big deal. But it's amazing how completing one extra task each day can quickly add up and make a difference.
Here's how it works for me...
Each day I look at my 'Today's Things To Do List'.
Oh yes, I have a list. Without it I would be lost. I schedule upcoming work. I list deadlines. I make notes of the people I should be calling or emailing. I look for the spare moments when I can write an article or two. I list all my personal and family commitments too.
And then I add one thing more
In addition to my daily list of things to do, I also have a general 'Needs to be Done' list. These are items that don't really have delivery dates or deadlines, but should get done.
Examples? Maybe a follow-up email to a company I worked for a while ago but haven't heard from since. Maybe a note to myself to get back to a happy customer and ask for a testimonial. Perhaps a reminder to myself to check out a particular website or new service. That kind of thing.
These are all things that are important, but not urgent.
Important, but not urgent
This is worth dwelling on for a moment. For many of us freelancers, our days and sometimes nights are filled with completing tasks that are urgent.
We have deadlines to meet. We have to get the work done.
And for most of us, we have only ourselves. No assistants or office managers to take care of the paperwork, administration and bookkeeping.
So we rush, rush, rush and feel that our day is complete once we have completed all of the urgent tasks.
Time for one more thing
But before you close down your computer, do that one extra thing. It's important.
Often that one final task will take just a few minutes. I'm not talking about spending another hour or two at your desk. I'm talking about tackling a non-urgent, but important task.
Will it make a difference?
Yes, it will. At the end of the month you will have completed 20-30 important things that otherwise would never have been done.
Perhaps just one of those things will lead to an extra contract.
Now keep this habit going month by month, year after year. If just one in fifty of these extra tasks completed leads to a new client or job, think of what that means in new income over the next few years.
Concluding thoughts...
There is no magic about doing one thing extra each day. It's just a simple, useful discipline and habit that could end up making a big difference to your future income.
Try it.
Working from home is a dream for many people. It sure beats being stuck in a cubicle all day. And the commute time is hard to beat as you walk from the kitchen to your office.
But working at home also brings its own set of challenges.
It can be hard to stay focused on your work. And it can get lonely.
I have been working from home for most of the time for almost 30 years now. Over that period I have noticed ways in which to make my work life both productive and pleasurable.
I don’t always follow my own rules. But I try.
Rule 1. Set yourself a schedule
Nobody else will do this for you. You have no manager or boss. No time sheet to complete.
So you need to set yourself a time when you start work at the beginning of the day. And a time when you end.
Then give yourself some reasonable breaks. It’s tempting to take either too much or too little time away from your desk. Try to be formal about this. Give yourself a short break mid-morning and a decent lunch break. And another short break during the afternoon.
Sometimes your schedule will be shot to pieces by travel or sudden family commitments. But use you schedule as your default each day, and stick to it as firmly as you can.
Rule 2. Find yourself a place to work
Some people build a formal office in their homes, with the complete desk, the printer, fax machine and more. It’s easy to do if you have a spare room, and an Office Depot or equivalent close by.
Other people just make a work area in the corner of the family room, with the minimum of special furniture or equipment.
Myself? Strange as it may seem, I work from my laptop at the kitchen table. It’s how I like it.
So don’t get too hung up about how a home office “should” be. Find your space and make it your own. And then let other family members know that it IS your office space, and encourage them to respect that.
Which brings us to...
Rule 3. Educate your Family
This can be the toughest part of all.
You need to help your family members understand that when you’re working, you’re AT WORK. Just the same as if you were working in an office.
After all, if you were working in an office, would one of your children walk in and ask you to get them a glass of juice?
Would another walk into your office conference room and announce that he or she was bored?
If you have family in the home, especially during vacation times, it can be tough on everyone. They want to disturb you. And you would probably rather step away from your desk and be with them as well.
So you need to establish some rules, for them and for yourself.
Rule 4. Know When to Stop Working
This can be the terror of working from home. You never know when to stop. You’ll find yourself doing just one more thing and, next thing you know, it’s eight or nine in the evening.
This rule contains elements from each of the others. It’s about scheduling, it’s about walking away from your office area, and it’s about rewarding yourself and your family by firmly putting work to one side at a reasonable time...just as if you were working in a real office.
Concluding thoughts...
Working from home brings with it multiple benefits. It’s a wonderful lifestyle.
But it has its own sets of demands as well.
And that means you have to be disciplined, and plan your day in a way that represents a healthy balance between your work life and home life.
Don’t let either one impose on the other. The more disciplined you are, the more successful and enjoyable your work at home lifestyle will be.
(First published at Freelance Writing Success.)
I have worked from a home office for most of the last thirty years. Sometimes from a separate office in my house, sometimes from the kitchen table, sometimes from my bedroom.
Like many other freelancers, solopreneurs or home office workers, I have also struggled to find a balance between my work life and my home life. I’m not sure I have completely figured that one out yet.
What I am aiming for, always, are ways to maximize my productivity and income, but also to achieve that balance...to know when to step away from my desk and enjoy my family and life, outside of work.
In this blog I will be exploring all kinds of themes. I’ll share my thoughts, review some of the many products and services available to those of us working from home, and point you to whatever other resources I think could be of use to you.
I will also republish here some of the many pieces I have written on this topic for other sites and blogs over the last few years.
