Tweet

Working from Home – A Blessing or a Curse?

Written by: Kathy Paauw

Article Overview: If you are among the increasing number of individuals who work from home, you know that it has some wonderful benefits – no traffic and parking hassles, no office politics to drag you down, nobody looking over your shoulder, you can wear your house slippers to work, and you can set flexible work hours. But these same great benefits come with drawbacks – a sense of isolation, no external pressure to keep you motivated and on task, and no limit to your work hours. In essence, if you are not careful you can easily find yourself “at work” all the time.

Working from Home – A Blessing or a Curse?

"It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
--Anonymous

If you are among the increasing number of individuals who work from home, you know that it has some wonderful benefits – no traffic and parking hassles, no office politics to drag you down, nobody looking over your shoulder, you can wear your house slippers to work, and you can set flexible work hours. But these same great benefits come with drawbacks – a sense of isolation, no external pressure to keep you motivated and on task, and no limit to your work hours. In essence, if you are not careful you can easily find yourself “at work” all the time.

With some good planning, it is possible to reap the benefits and reduce the drawbacks of working from a home office. Here are 10 tips to help:

1. Begin with the big picture in mind. Clarify what needs to happen in the next three years in order for you to feel like your life has progressed in the way that you want it to.

2. Plan and organize your week so you are focused on your priorities – both professional AND personal ones. Do you find yourself putting things off that are important to you because you have so many urgent tasks that need your attention? Do you look back at the end of the day with regret and wish that you had spent your time focusing on more important things ... such as time with your family, time for self-care, or time to work on an important project that has no deadline? Being technically proficient in your business or profession will only get you so far … especially if your life gets out of balance in the process.

We are all accustomed to making appointments with other people, but not necessarily with ourselves. Because most of us tend to focus on that which is urgent, we tend to put off activities that are important but have no deadline. Schedule “protected time” -- time during the day when you let calls go into voice mail and you don’t check email -- so you can concentrate on activities that are important but not urgent.

W. Clement Stone once said, "No matter how carefully you plan your goals, they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto." If interruptions in your home office make it difficult to concentrate, consider going somewhere else to work on important projects requiring concentration.

Be clear about how you choose to structure your week.

* How much free time do you choose to spend away from work?
* How much time do you choose to spend delivering the primary product or service you provide? Are you available evenings and weekends?
* How much time do you choose to spend doing the support activities important to your work?

All of these activities affect each other. If you neglect support activities (returning phone calls, responding to email, follow-up, filing, etc.), things will start slipping through the cracks. Then it becomes difficult to take free time to relax and rejuvenate. Without free time, the quality of what you deliver will suffer. It becomes a viscious cycle!

3. Limit the number of places you post reminders of activities requiring your attention. I recommend that you check these three places daily:

* Your tickler file -- visit my website and search for Tickler File for more information about how to set this up.
* Your contact management program (such as ACT or Outlook) – This can contain your scheduled appointments with others, as well as your scheduled appointments with yourself and reminders for follow-up with others.
* E-mail – Flag the items you need to come back to and do something with.

4. Create a Perhaps List . Most people have stashes of lists in multiple places – several legal pads containing to-do lists, sticky notes plastered on the computer monitor, the wall, the desktop, etc. Instead of writing these ideas down in multiple places, collect all of them in one place.

5. Schedule 10-15 minutes at the end of each workday to organize your work space and review your plans for tomorrow. Psychologists have found that we enjoy our non-work hours much more when we leave the office with an organized desk and a plan for the following day. This is also a good time to check your tickler file for the next day so you can begin mentally preparing for what needs your attention tomorrow.

6. Schedule time with other people. Working from a home office can be isolating. If you need more human contact, build in opportunities that will help you feel more connected to others. Join a service club or networking group, or treat yourself to having lunch or playing a sport once a week with a friend, colleague, or client…whatever it takes to feel more connected.

7. Schedule weekly “admin” time to tend to routine activities that you know need to be done regularly – filing, checking email, returning phone calls, invoicing, paying bills, etc. Although these activities are important, they are generally not urgent…but if they get neglected long enough they will become urgent when you cannot find something you need or a bill does not get paid by the due date.

NOTE: Not all hours are created equal. Pay attention to your own body rhythms. Schedule your “high brain” activities (things requiring creativity, for example) during your best time of day, and schedule the “low brain” activities (the auto pilot stuff) during your low energy time of the day.

8. Page-Up Copy HolderSay NO to activities that are not important to you. If you need a reminder of what to say YES to, consider using a daily checklist and a PageUp Copy Holder that can hold your checklist upright (see photo) so it does not get buried on your desk.

9. Trim the F.A.T. – File, Act, Toss. When you open the mail, immediately make a decision to either FILE away for future reference, ACT on it, or TOSS it.

10. Create a filing system which will enable you to find things quickly, no matter where you filed it. The number one reason people pile instead of file is a fear of never finding it again. You're invited to participate in my FREE upcoming Find Anything in 5 Seconds teleclass and I’ll show you how you can file your papers so you’ll find them in 5 seconds or less.

Related Articles
  How To Break The Failing Marketer Curse And Have Network Marketing Success!
  WAKE UP Your Life! By Doris Roper
  Play Ball!
  The Blessings in Customer Complaints
  The Curse of A Lottery Mindset

Article Tags: organize home office, work from home tips, Working from home



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - [quote="freddyb45":1t3lpfi8]For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.[/quote:1t3lpfi8] I like this idea. Working for yourself means you are investing in your own future, not someone else's, although there is value in working for someone else first to gain experience and confidence. Working for yourself does not automatically mean success, fame and fortune. For most entrepreneurs, it takes much work and dedication to get to the point of financial success and comfort - sometimes years. But the benefit is, again, you know you are investing in yourself and building equity for your own future. GT :-]
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Re: help wanted in u.k. - Working on it all, a new world to me cheers brendan
Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.
Re: When do entrepreneurs retire, if ever? - Entrepreneur don't retire, they die on the job. It is his passion and what he enjoys doing. Rubert Murdock is 77 years old and he is still working. He said he would die fast if he stop working. Working had become his life,joy and passion


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Halloween Howl Seven by Author Paige Agnew

Creating a Better Place to Work

Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Sales Staff

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.