Can you better your life by working from your home? You have to make tough decisions if you want to be the boss.
One of the biggest complaints from people who are working outside of the home is having to deal with the drive. To work. From work. Sitting in traffic. During these stretches of time that are seemingly endless, chances are you have said to yourself on more than one occasion, It would be wonderful to work from home. Your thoughts go to a happier place, one that does not smell like exhaust and where other drivers aren’t beeping their horns at you. I wouldn’t have to deal with this traffic. Or getting up quite as early. Well, at least to shower and get dressed for work. But wait, I could make breakfast for my family during the week, get the kids on the bus, work in my pajamas…from the sofa! Oh, the sheer joy. The freedom. The balance. I could do it all.
But take a moment and ask yourself, is that realistic? Could you really work from home and actually continue to thrive in your job? It’s possible. Or possibly not. If you decide to take the plunge and work remotely, you can make it work for you, but it takes proper preparation, commitment and drive.
Where to Begin
Set up a routine for your work day and stick with it. Be consistent. This means setting specific working hours for yourself, regardless of what time you start your business day. If you decide that you work the best starting at 5:00 a.m., set your alarm accordingly. Want to have a morning routine and get started in the afternoon? Plan it into your day. It is also important to remember to take some time for yourself. After all, your purpose of working from home is to eliminate stress in order to have a healthy life and business balance.
Set up an area that you can dedicate as your professional work space. This means designating an area in your home that is well-lit, has appropriate work space and is set aside from tempting (or not so tempting) distractions. Remember that distractions are distractions, no matter how small. It is also pertinent to invest in the best equipment and office furniture that works within your budget. Whatever you design as your workspace, make it your own.
Stay Focused
A wise person once said that there is no such thing as multitasking. Rather, it is doing a whole bunch of things at one time and paying no real attention to any of it. In “work from home” terms, multitasking can be defined as, feeling productive, looking busy, but accomplishing nothing. In order to be successful working from home, you have to stay focused on the task at hand. While it may be tempting to check your emails and social media every few minutes, you will find that you are wasting time that could be spent more productively. Figure this. If you are spending about 15 minutes per hour doing something other than work, you are losing two hours of work time a day. The point of working from home is to add time to your life, not to waste it.
Just do it
Like merging onto a highway, you’ve got to just do it if you want to get where you need to go. Once you know your limits, role and have your mental GPS on, let off the brakes. There may be bumps along the road, but with hard work and self-discipline, you’ll reach your destination.
