Working from Home vs Life

There comes a time when the option of working from home is there or you may be someone that has their own business and has that luxury. I don’t and when I was asked to put a little something together for a colleague on working from home I had to do some research. The biggest concern for them was balancing the life part of home with the business side of work. So what can you do to keep calm and carry on working? Designate Your Working Hours Working at home is an absolute dream for so many people. Going out in the pouring rain, or having to share germs with your fellow commuter is a surefire way to raise your stress levels to Angry Dad. So, slipping into your cozy dressing gown and slippers before settling down for a workday on the sofa sounds wonderful. This can be a dangerous trap to fall into because you can be so relaxed that your workday may stretch from 8.30 am to 8 pm! Designating your working hours and sticking rigidly to that is one way of getting the work done in a decent amount of time. Have A Home Office Working from the couch is great when you’re suffering from a bad cold. But when it comes to doing your job, you really need to invest in a room away from the noise and commotion. A lot of workers who work from home due to necessity find that they are only in a work mindset if they recreate the office environment in their own home. Otherwise, they find that they won’t do any work at all. So, make a place for you free from distractions and make sure you can lock yourself away. That way, work time is work time, and outside of that office is home time. So you can literally shut the door on your job for the day. Are there too many distractions at home? Invest in some noise canceling headphones and that will go some way to save your sanity! Be There… Virtually When it comes to running a business, there are so many plates to spin. Running a startup business or a small company from home doesn’t have the same cache as a business with a proper sounding address. A lot of businesses with this issue take to paying specialist companies that can provide virtual office functions, giving you a better image. There are plenty of companies online that provide these functions, like www.hoxtonmix.com, where you can have meetings or office space. A lot of companies also have a call answering service and can take your mail to a business address and redirect it back to your residential one. I think working at home is challenging. Having a child is challenging. Working with both makes for long days and nights and a test of your dad skills. Establishing boundaries between work and home will help with this. Either have a word with your partner or sometimes taking your laptop and phone out to a cafe will help you. Make your work and home life different, even if it is under one roof and Dorothy’s so impeccably cute!  ]]>