Learn to work productively from anywhere you may lay your hat and call it “my office”.
These 9 essential tips which are based on my own experience of working from home for more than a decade, will help you create the work-life balance you want.
Over the years I learned how to work from home productively while raising a family and being the breadwinner, after quite a bit of trial and error. “Too many things to do, too few hours in the day, too many distractions….” – sound familiar?
Although this eBook is about working from home, these nine essential tips will help you understand how you can work productively from anywhere you may lay your hat and call it “my office”.
In this eBook I share 9 free, simple, and consistent daily habits, that are free, to keep yourself in balance so that you achieve both your personal and work objectives.
My aim is to fall asleep at night knowing I have done a great day’s work, that I have looked after my family, and that I am living a life in balance. These 9 essential tips will help you too.
Working from home gives you the opportunity to create the work-life balance you have always thought was possible but couldn’t quite get right. Creating a rhythm at home where you have the balance between work, family, hobbies, household duties and a social life takes a little time, some planning ahead and a commitment to your daily practise.
When I started working from home more than ten years ago, I had a room dedicated as my office, a desk with bookshelves, a whiteboard with markers and a duster, and a comfortable ergonomic seat – I was all set!
I would spend hours in the office during the day and at night after my daughter went to bed. The boundary between work and personal became invisible. I rarely stopped working or thinking about work. As a result, I hit a wall commonly known as burnout. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, my body didn’t want to move from bed. I lay in bed pretty much immobilised for two weeks and took several months to fully recover.
Distractions were always there, construction noises, dogs barking, birds screeching, the neighbours popping in to say hello. Kitchen dishes, the laundry and the fridge, oh the fridge! Getting up every ten minutes to have a snack. But these challenges are all part of the experience of working from home. These challenges aren’t bad or derailing, and with some structure and routine, they will matter less.
The perfect office set up didn’t matter. What I’ve realised after years of working from home is that the right mindset to work from virtually wherever you might be is more important than a static office space.
One of the important perceived values of going to an office environment is the social interaction which you may have underestimated. I used to enjoy going to the office and saying good morning to my colleagues. I liked being part of a structure that kept me buoyant throughout the day and helped me to achieve my goals.
Working on your own without your peers to greet in the morning, enjoy lunch together or go out for coffee can make you feel isolated and lonely. Unless you’re already a lone wolf, you may struggle with this aspect of working from home.
When I’m working at home, my social interactions come from my local community. I chat with neighbours and local business owners, such as the butcher and baker. Where possible, I buy my goods locally which helps me feel connected to the people around me. The other benefit of shopping locally is that I am supporting my local community. They are better off and I’m contributing positively which makes me happier too.
My sense is that our local communities will become an essential part of our happiness in the not-too-distant-future. I’m refocusing plenty of attention on mine.
I am a working woman, sole provider and a mum, and I love being productive and earning my living. But if I don’t work, I don’t feed my family. The buck stops with me literally. For me learning to work from home productively has been an essential skill.
There is an art to working from home. I share these in my eBook:
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