Are you self-employed and working at home? I am. And if you're like me, you wouldn't work anywhere else. The advantages to working at home are great--there's no commuting, you get to spend more time with family, you can tend to household chores when they arise, and
tax breaks can be significant. But working at home also presents unique challenges, one of which is how can you be more "at work" when you need to be? The lack of a commute can be a double-edged sword. It's wonderful not to have to battle traffic, bad weather and surging gas prices. But it's also tough to create distance that's sometimes necessary for you to focus on work while you're at home.
TEMPTATIONS APLENTY When I first started working at home, I often asked myself, "How do I mentally and physically disconnect from being at home so that I actually feel like I am at work, so that I'm not tempted to simply knock-off when it's two in afternoon and golf clubs are singing their siren song or kids want me to go on a bike ride with them?"
For a time, I experimented with "dressing" part--complete with button up shirt and business-casual pants--but felt somewhat "silly" sitting in my office, resplendent in my business attire, with nary a client to see me (I do all of my work by email or phone). I soon found absurdity of my garb to be more distracting than issue I was trying to solve!
CREATE WORK-LIKE ROUTINES My solution has been to develop simple and flexible morning, midday, and afternoon routines that mimic a typical work day--but retain all benefits of my being at home:
* My morning routine involves rising at roughly 7:30 a.m., eating breakfast with my family, and then after showering, shaving and brushing ivories, I "commute" to work. Only I don't commute by car. I commute to my office via a short hike up stairs to my office on second floor--a hike that symbolizes what for me used to be a 20-mile drive. I then launch into my day with a check of email and phone messages, and then sequester myself in my office until midday, emerging only for coffee and inevitable mid-morning bathroom break.
* By midday, when creative juices begin to wane, I break for lunch. This usually includes a casual walk to mailbox and a light meal with my family. We get to visit and chat, which never could have happened if I was working out of house. Then it's back to my office and back to work for remainder of day--replenished and energized.
