If you’ve never worked from home, then you might be in for a nasty surprise since basically the whole country, and world, is working from home for the decided future. I’ve been working from home for over five years now, and I think I know a thing or two about doing it successfully. Here are some things you should know.
1 – Block out your time daily, and stick to that schedule. You don’t have to rely on your old schedule, though. This is your opportunity to block out your schedule with times that work for you.
If you are more productive from 5 am-2 pm, then use that as your productive time and then do admin tasks at other times. Make the schedule your own, but you need to stick to that schedule.
There are three kinds of time; green, yellow, and red. Green time is when you’re making money, or doing important tasks, yellow time is doing busy work and admin tasks, and red time is when you aren’t working. Use a highlighter and literally decide every day when you are doing what time, and then stick with it.
If you have to pick little Timmy up from school every day, then that time is RED time. Just block it out like that EVERY DAY. If you have a weekly staff meeting, that’s YELLOW time. If you’re making presentations, or giving presentations, or doing sales calls, that’s GREEN time, assuming these are things that immediately impact your PAY.
2 – Create a group of people you can talk to and rely on why reliably work the same schedule as you. If your work allows, then try to make a Zoom meeting, but at least reach out to ONE of them every day and have a conversation.
3 – When you wake up in the morning, decide on THE ONE THING that you need to accomplish that day, and work toward that goal. You might accomplish it by 9 am, or 9 pm, but that is the focus of the day. Everything else is a bonus, and you should reward yourself for hitting your goal.
4 – Get out of the house for at least 1-2 hours a day. Go for a walk, or…well everything is closed so just go for a walk or something. If you can’t leave your house, then at least sit on the porch or sit in your yard.
5 – Keep your workspace and your living space separate. They are two different things and don’t go back to that workspace when you leave it for the day.
6 – Pick an end time and stick with it. I end my workday when Karen comes home and finishes making dinner. That’s it. I’m done with sitting behind my computer.
7 – Congratulations. You just got a new boss, even if you have a job where you have a boss. That boss is you, and your boss SUCKS. Separate employee you from boss you, and act like a boss to yourself. Set goals and objectives, then chide yourself if you don’t get them done.
I am the hardest boss I’ve ever had. Karen always says that I have no deadlines except the ones that I impose on myself, but I’m harder on those than I EVER was when I had a job in an office.
Working from home is the best thing I’ve ever done, but it’s very isolating and it’s easy to donk off.
However, if you can form a community online of people, set deadlines and schedules, block out your time, keep your work and home space different, and get out of the house to see the sun 1-2 times a day, then you should be okay, I think.
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