Today I want to talk about working from home.
I’ve been working since I was 17/18 years old and I’ve been lucky enough to have all sorts of jobs. I’ve worked different kinds of jobs from retail, to the creative industry to the administrative office industry. Throughout my journey at one of my jobs I was lucky enough to get to work from home. When I found out, I was both excited and nervous. I was excited because I would get to eliminate my 4+ hours a day commute and I was nervous because I had never worked from home! Since I didn’t have a choice, I had to adjust and thank goodness I did.
Today I wanted to write down some practical tips that helped me feel like I was actually working (and not just sitting in my pajamas all day). Fast-forward five years and I’m back working from home again. I know that many who thought they’d never work from home now find themselves having to adjust so I wanted to write up this post to share what has worked for me (and trust me, it truly does). Now, I do want to preface this by saying that these are my tips, meaning that they are not set in stone for everyone as I know each situation is different and everyone works in different ways.
Tip #1- My very first tip and what helped me feel like I was still going to work, even though I wasn’t actually going anywhere was to still get ready in the morning. Now I’m not talking full makeup- wear-my-best-clothes kind of ready but just getting ready and out of your pajamas. Depending on if you typically take showers in the morning or at night (I’m a morning shower kind of girl). This is what I did. I would set my alarm for about an hour before I had to start work and take a shower and put on normal clothes (the kind of clothes that I could potentially wear anywhere if and when I had to run out for an errand.) Then I had my breakfast and made my bed and started working away.
Tip # 2- My second tip is to have a set area for working. Now, this can be your kitchen table, a regular table or a dedicated desk. In my case, I still had my desk from when I was in college in my room so it worked out great. I made sure it was nicely organized so that it could serve as my work station throughout my work day.
Tip #3- Tip #2 leads me to this third tip. Make sure your space is organized! Now, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this on the blog but, I can’t stand having my bed not made. I don’t know why but I always have to make it. I’ve even timed myself and it actually takes me 5 minutes to do this menial task. I started implementing this years ago, but it really came in handy when I worked from home. Because I was working from my room I just couldn’t imagine myself in a messy room and having to look at that all day.
Tip #4- Implement a schedule as if you were at work. This one was key for me being productive and also helped stay on track (in regards to my eating and actual work schedule.) When I worked from home, the only person that was at home with me was my mom. I know everyone’s situation is different so this turns out to be super important if there are multiple people at home while you’re working that can distract you. Because I am really close with my mom I made sure that she knew that although I was working from home, I was “working” and not just there to chit chat. What I did instead was set a lunch time where I would go to the kitchen etc. and a few break times throughout the day. This helped (both me and my mom) keep things organized and also tremendously helped me stay productive and on task for my job.
Tip #5- Set a start and end time to your day. Now this tip was easier for me because back when I worked from home I was contracted to work for a company and wasn’t necessarily running my own business. If you’re in a situation like me, where the company you work for let’s you complete your work from home make sure you are strict with this one. I had a start and end time to my day and after that I was done. I was literally done for the day and wouldn’t do anything work related until the next day. Because my desk was in my room you can see how easy it would’ve been to just pick up and continue working at night or after I “clocked out” so if you can, try to set actual working hours while you’re completing your work at home. Trust me, this one takes discipline.
Tip # 6- Finally, my last tip is to move around (if you can). This, I’ve discovered recently. Although I’ve set up my “work station” at my desk in my room I realized that I can get caught up in whatever I’m working on and let the hours slip by. I work off of a laptop so I can be mobile, so what I’ll do sometimes is get up and grab my laptop and notebook and go and work in the living room or dining room for an hour. This has made such a difference in both my productivity and my over mood. Staying in my room all day was driving me insane!
So there you have it. I can honestly and confidently say that my experience working from home was a great one. Now that I have the opportunity to work from home again, I’ve implemented all the tips above and can once again confirm that these work and make working from home a great experience. All the fears I had never came true. I still felt productive but had tons more energy because I wasn’t stuck in traffic after my 8 hour workday. I’d love to hear some additional tips from anyone working from home as I feel this is becoming a more popular trend as the years pass by and if done properly it can be a marvelous thing. 🙂
