Working from home has so much potential for combining domestic pleasures with productivity – lounging in pajamas, sitting all day with cat in lap, and taking long lunches while blasting music that would normally be silenced by the presence of coworkers. It’s true that telecommuting has its benefits and provides more flexibility. The convenience of business tools like instant messaging and videoconferencing allow you to have a presence at the office, and you have a lot more time to yourself to get things done.
But getting too comfortable – letting a 15-minute break extend for hours and bleed into work time – can cause a career to hemorrhage. Without discipline and gratitude, working at home may turn into more of an extended weekend than a convenient career opportunity. On the other hand, some telecommuters end up working well past their regular work hours simply because their work is always present.
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Create a space that is designed for work and only work. No taking your laptop to your bed and propping your legs up with pillows. The idea is to allow for sustained productivity without interruption from books, TV, other people, or anything else in your home that could pose a potential distraction. An entire office is ideal – it gives the illusion of being at work – but a desk in a quiet, secluded space or near a window with your back to the door will work just as well.
Once the clock hits 5 p.m. – or whenever your workday officially ends – shut down your work brain and make the mental shift toward “going home.” This is an act of the imagination, since of course you’re already home. But it’s an important step to take to ensure that you don’t overwork yourself simply because you can. After you close up shop in your home office, do something that helps you relax, and keep it as a ritual that you do after each workday. If you have trouble separating yourself from your work in the beginning, you can take a short walk around the neighborhood, take a spin on your bike or get in the car and run a short errand. When you return, you can act like you’re just “getting home.”
Working at home is a privilege, and one given to you based on your work’s trust in your integrity and belief in your abilities. Anytime you’re tempted to spend the workday surfing the Web or getting things done around the house, embrace a sense of gratitude for being given the opportunity to telecommute. The benefits of not having to deal with traffic, never forgetting your lunch at home and wearing whatever you want as you plug numbers into Excel are luxuries not afforded to all workers. Enjoy them, but don’t take advantage. Learn to self-manage your own work-life balance.
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