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If you work from home or are considering it as an option for the near future, one of the most important skills you’ll need to master is the ability to separate your work time from your home time. If you fail to do this you might soon be thinking that you were better off working for someone else!
Working from home probably seems like the most
wonderful idea on the planet if you are currently stuck in an employment rut or you have the boss from hell. Working from home means you can do your own thing whenever you want to. You can come and go from your home office as you please. If you don’t feel like working, you can go and do something else, and you can work any hour of the day or night you please. Herein lays the danger!
Whilst it’s glorious to be able to step out of your home office when you become bored or feel like a break, if you begin doing this frequently, you simply won’t get the work done. No work usually equates to no income! Discipline is the key here. Determine how many hours you will devote to your home business each day and try to stick to that.
One of the main reasons people prefer to work from home is that it gives added flexibility to your home and social life. You are able to juggle your work and family commitments with greater ease. Another benefit is that you have additional time – you no longer have to travel to and from work. You should take full advantage of these things but in doing so, you have to find a balance. You will find that to a certain extent you will need to separate your work from your family and social life to ensure that both get the attention they deserve.
When you first begin working from home, you’ll find there are many things you’d prefer to be doing rather than working on your own in the study! When a friend invites you out for coffee, lunch or a game of golf you’re likely to say yes without hesitation. That’s fine if you won’t have to catch up on your work that night. If you have a family who are busy through the day and usually interact with you in the evening, they’re unlikely to appreciate you working all night. For you, working at night could be a chore. If the television is on and family members want your attention while you’re working, the frequent interruptions are likely to have an impact on your work.
The perception is that working from home gives you tremendous flexibility and more time with family and friends. This can certainly be the case but if you don’t take some steps to separate work time from family and social time, you can end up worse off than you were as an employee. |
