I’ve been working from home for 3 years now. I used to teach high school Spanish, so switching from a classroom to my living room was quite a change. It was definitely more peaceful and filled with a lot less drama and certainly fewer bad accents, but working from home has it challenges too. Part of the reason I do it is because I am a stay at home mom- working in the same place you “stay at home” is tricky. It’s hard to find good boundaries and honor them even when they’re in place. I thought I’d share a few tips I’ve learned the past few years.
Set “office hours.” It’s not fair to your family or yourself to work 24/7. Just like an office job, you need to set specific hours in which you work, and I do mean work. Treat your at-home job as a real job and be professional about it. You can’t take breaks to hang with friends, wash dishes, or even do laundry. On the flip side, once those hours are over, stop working and go “home.”- Act professionally. Just because you have a laptop and a couch doesn’t mean you should work in your pj’s. You don’t have to wear suits, but dressing professionally can help you stay in the work mindset and not get easily distracted.
- Set goals. Again it’s part of being professional- don’t work aimlessly or without goals. Dependent upon your job, set weekly or monthly goals that are challenging but achievable. This will help you stay focused and not run adrift.
- Block distractions. They come in a lot of forms, both internally and externally. If noise of a problem or just catches your attention, try a sound machine or this free white noise generator. Another form of distraction comes online, as well. There are quite a few productivity add-ons you can try to get more done.
The key to working from home successfully is treating your job professionally and blocking distractions.
