Use Boundaries To Stay Sane Working From Home
Whether you telecommute a few days a week or work from home full time, working from home isn’t the walk in the park office workers sometimes envision it to be.
Photo by Philo Nordlund.
You can love or hate working in a traditional office and clocking a 9-5, but doing so provides clear-cut boundaries to your day. Work is a place you go to with a distinct culture, set of rules and physical space. Everything from the scowling security guard to the smell of cheap burning coffee wafting from the break room works together to tell your brain that you’re at work and it’s time to get stuff done.
Lynn Truong, writing for productivity blog Awake@TheWheel, highlights the importance of establishing cues and routines when working from home. To a traditional office worker, her suggestions might seem absurd, such as this one:
Set office hours. It doesn’t have to resemble normal business hours. It can start at 2am and end at noon. It can be in 2 hour blocks with 1 hour breaks to attend to the kids. It can change on a daily basis. But having a schedule with your set office hours will let your family know when you’re working and when you’re available for them. This will also ensure that you schedule in your family every day, too. It’s hard to believe, but if you don’t, you may forget. Take advantage of your flexible schedule to take a few hours off to bring the kids to the beach on a weekday, when it’s less crowded. Make a to do list with your family, so you can plan and look forward to hanging out with them as much as your conference calls and deadlines.
For someone who works from their home—and I speak from experience—it is all too easy to let your work slowly creep until you’re doing work-related things nearly every hour of the day. One of the most powerful things I did to boost my productivity was set very hard boundaries for when I actually worked. Forcing myself frame my work within concrete units of time instead of viewing my work at home as being depressingly open-ended both boosted my output and happiness.
For more tips on maintaining your sanity while working from home check out the full article below. If you have your own tips for keeping balanced while working from home, share them in the comments below. Working From Home: 10 Unconscious Cues to Create a Work-Life Balance [via The Simple Dollar ]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@Raiderboy23: Wow... I'm so sorry. That's not even funny, nor does it even make sense. Must be because I'm sitting here at work hating my job right now too... :-/
@Raiderboy23: "What the hell are you doing in my house? Wearing my robe?!?"
"Telecommuting?"
@TheBeege1: Get a job away from home.
Working from home is awesome. I'm doing it right now. Buck-naked, on the couch, French Press coffee in hand, the leftovers from both my huge omelette from breakfast and my home-made Thai food from lunch sitting on the coffee table in front of me, NPR piping softly in the background.
Yeah, office workers -- it's great.
@TheBeege1: Work in someone else's home. Duh :P
What if you work from home, AND you hate your job? Any insight on that one? :-)
Make sure your chair and desk are configured so as to allow enough room between your lap and keyboard to accommodate an adult cat while still allowing you to type comfortably.
JayDeEm
@TheBeege1:
then you're normal.
gmerin
Excellent tips here. I work from home 100%, unless at a client for final installation or initial requirements.
I find that acting like I'm going to work every morning helps get the day started.
- get up, shower, eat breakfast and brew some tea.
- take the tea to the home-office by 8am, if not earlier
- check my GTD priorities for the day, look for any meetings / conf calls or other appointments
- Don't read email until after GTD planned.
- Take a healthy snack break around 10am and again at 3pm-ish.
- Cut out early if I can - 4pm; Don't do any work after that, unless it is an emergency, perhaps once a month.
- Don't be afraid to make a quick phone call to a work associate to remain personally connected, but avoid times that aren't good for them if they also work from home.
No personal email, surfing, anything unless it cannot be done in the evening. So dealing with health insurance or banking has to happen in the day and is allowed.
On slow days, go for a hike and take advantage of setting your own hours. Same for taking many Fridays off.
TheFu
For me it is about schedules and meeting expectations. Whether you work from home or at the office. How many hours you work is insignificant. What matters is making the schedule and producing quality product/service.
Also, I work on stuff when I am not working. For instance, I may be designing a new interface while talking to friend on the phone. Most of what I do is mental, and sitting in front of a computer is not necessary to get my job done. I can take a walk and be writing a new spec without anyone knowing it by looking at me.
wrecklass
Great list. As a person who works from home 90% of the time (and soon, almost 100%), I fully admit I don't do some of these things, and it comes back to bite me in the ass.
I have to add distraction blockers too. It's all too easy to browse the interwebs when there's no boss that could walk in. Or get caught up in a TV show (I have a friend who works from home a lot and keeps the TV on for background noise... dunno how he manages TBH).
fuzzycuffs
There are boundries? who knew?!
ericslaw
@meow-mixer: that's probably because it isn't very important. Once you work is tied to the food on the table, you'll understand.
SamburgerHandwich
I have been working from home for over seven years now. Technology keeps making it easier and easier. I'm a software engineer, and the freedom of limited interruptions is a real time saver. I can get more done in 4 hours than many of my office bound co-workers can in 7 or 8.
I did have a problem with not setting proper boundaries in the beginning. I find a ritual helps. When it is time to stop working, I log off of the office email and shut down the system I work from. That means I am "home" and ready for family time.
Unfortunately the new Blackberry with office email coming directly to it may prove to be a barrier breaker. Time will tell.
wrecklass
I work from home and love it. Some of those tips are great. I also recommend taking a break in the morning and afternoon; I just go to the kitchen and snack on fruit. And for lunch definitely leave the office or workspace, whichever room it's in. Go for a short walk or just to another room in the house. It's good for preserving your sanity.
I also can't emphasize enough creating a workspace/office that you love. I decorated mine like with pictures frames, accessories from the Container Store, and splurged on nice curtains and a nice lamp. It makes me look forward to sitting there everyday.
groupie
Wait, you people have trouble staying UNFOCUSED while working at home?? I have half days this week for finals, and I can't for the life of me stay focused enough to study.
Argh, highschool.
meow-mixer
"Results Only Work Environment" is what we should be working towards. Ashley Aker an I/O Psychologist has a great blog about not only staying productive, but how to help change the climate of your workplace to understand that some people can work 9-5 at a job and get their work done and stay motivated where as others are motivated more by working were they want and will prove their worthiness by producing the same amount of work for the freedom to work where, when, or how they want.
Her blog is [workstyledesign.com] It has some great information that is backed by research.
hooster
Also: I use different email programs (on one machine) for work (Outlook) and personal (Thunderbird). It guarantees the office is only "open" when the work email is up. Ditto on phones. Formerly Vonage, now Skype (through a Nokia E63 w/ Fring) for work, and I turn it off when the office is "closed". As emergency backup, I get an email to my personal mail when a message is received, and I can decide to check it. I have had much better separation of work and "life" since I did these two. Tim
VeronicaKhavaran
Here's a trick I do - I dual boot my machine. During the day when I'm working I boot into Windows 7. As soon as the workday is over I boot back into OSX. This way I'm not tempted to read that email that just came in or work on that doc that needs some polishing.
This also helps me from distracting myself when I'm in work mode.
variaas
@ub: Soooooooo, you've gotten what accomplished today? ;P
Just kidding, I dream of the day I can fly from this prison.
/sigh
Tyrun101
@ub: Wow, It's like me and you are living the exact same life! Hold on, can you scratch that for me?
David Sprowls
@ub: Your job is posting comments on Lifehacker?
Awesome!
magicant
Working from home is amazing. I save gas, enjoy my family and contribute happily to my team. Companies throw out their reasons why telecommuting doesn't work, but in the end, it's just lazy management and old world traditional thinking that keeps people in cubicles. Technology has long since surpassed what is required to make telecommuting work for the masses. Work is work. If people want social lives, go out and seek companionship. Workplaces of droids in cubicles are an old concept and a (welcomed) dying breed.
EmeryBias
Those of you working from home should throw a picture up on http://www.nationalpyjamaclub.co.uk so the office bound can see what they are missing!
WinthropVulture
I worked at home almost exclusively for about six years. While I did end up working about 60 hours a week most weeks, I miss it tremendously because of the flexibility and lack of interruption. Some days I worked during the day if I had an evening planned activity, but most days I preferred to work in the late afternoon and evening. Sometimes I worked late into the night. Someday I'll do it again.
Hongfiately
My current work situation is very much like working from home. I am the only person on my shift and I have a very lenient dress code, can listen to loud music, and I have unfettered access to the internet. It's quite grand actually.
But I can't come to work with just a bathrobe ) :
What if you work at home in the family business AND live at home with your family too???? Then what? There's no escape...
ShamaClio
Hmmm, sounds alot like this article, which I like better because of the picture!
[www.stationstops.com]
brundlefly76
Keep a machine dedicated to work, lock it when the day is done.
Try using multiple displays shut off work when the day is done.
Set the Blackberry to phone only, change the message notification so your led doesn't blink for each email. -Urgent emails and phone calls.. that's another story.
If all else fails make an end of work button ( Emergency Party Button )
[[www.plasma2002.com]]
@WinthropVulture: That looks comfy.. I should buy some pajamas this office chair chafes
@wrecklass: Without anyone knowing it.. I've had problems with this as people don't realize I'm actually working and interrupt me with things unrelated while I'm doing implementation planning in my head. Which can up with me forgetting where I was at in the plan if it was a particularly complicated piece.
@wrecklass: I've a dedicated machine for work which I lock to try and avoid going back to work after hours.
The blackberry however is another issue altogether. When I first got it I would check it every time an email hit 24 hours a day, It didn't matter if it was two a.m.
I've gotten so I try to leave it in my office now at least on the weekends and only check every so often after the "workday" is finished, before starting dinner, after dinner and before bed. I keep relatively apprised on situations that occur as they come up that way and if the network goes down or someone has real trouble, that's what a phone calls for not email.