Many of us dream of the day that we will be able to make our livings from the cherished comfort of our very own homes. Getting up when you choose, taking your time over breakfast, structuring your working day around the times that you work best, being able to schedule in your favourite TV programme or a quick trip to the gym – what more could you ask of your professional life? The fact is that the reality is often not quite so dreamy and if you are not careful you could start to find that your working life is interfering with your family life in ways that can be detrimental to them both.
The trick to maintaining a productive working life and a happy home life within the same space is to be clear about where you work and where you don’t. Creating a functional and practical office space within your own home shouldn’t be too difficult. Make sure that you have everything you need within this space. That includes the computers, printers, documents, resources, address books, calendars… This will save you from making unnecessary trips round the house throughout the day that could easily result in non-productive distractions. To help you get your desk space in ship shape, Ryman have a range of nifty office space storage solutions as well as a range of comfortable, but not too comfortable, office furniture.
If you have more than one computer, a laptop and a desktop, for example, try to make sure that one (preferably the desktop) is used for work and the other is used for more recreational uses, such as emailing friends and family, booking holidays or indulging in a little online retail therapy. If your whole world is centred around your laptop then give yourself boundaries about when and where you use it and what for. If you are using it for work, try to keep it within the work space. If you are using it for other things, try to keep it out of the workspace.
Many work-from-home entrepreneurs find that keeping these boundaries in place helps them to switch, psychologically, from one frame of mind to another depending upon which part of the house they are in. This is something that we all need to be able to do, no matter how or where we work, but when the workplace is also your home the lines are easily blurred.
I work at home and these are truly great tips to be able to work at home effectively and efficiently. I have my own work room where I have my computer of course. And I close the door when I really need to concentrate on my work and I put up a sign at the door which says busy. If I’m not that busy, I just leave the door open. My kids understand this, so when the door’s closed they really would not bother me. I guess it’s just a matter of understanding between family members.
I think it’s getting harder and harder to keep to these boundaries. Getting emails constantly on your phone – and feeling the pressure to reply ASAP. Paradoxically, I think I get more work done with more disruptions around such as TV and the Internet around me. It breaks up the routine and it’s hard to explain but I might get less done in a day this way than if I just set a chunk of time to just working but over the years, according to the work notes I keep, my productivity is greater. I think it’s psychological – but my working day is all day long but it is in very small manageable chunks that I can do anywhere café, park, in the middle of watching a DVD, etc.
But then again I don’t have a family, lol. I suppose, that’s the difference.
Derek.