One of the most appealing aspects of being a freelance professional is the opportunity to work from home. I know it was a real lure for me when I got started about a gazillion years ago.
However, I’ve since found that a home office can be both a blessing and a curse.
Sure, there are a lot of advantages. (Like being able to stay in your pyjamas until noon.)
But if you’re not careful, the “home” in home office can have a disastrous impact on your productivity. Think of all the wonderful things that are so temptingly close by. The kids… the television… the refrigerator. It’s all too easy to get sidetracked.
Just last week I was chatting with a fellow home office dweller about this very topic. She said, “Yesterday, I went to the kitchen to make myself a coffee and, before I realized it, I was putting away some dishes, wiping the countertops and flipping through the newspaper. A five minute coffee break turned into a half an hour!”
So how do you avoid the built-in distractions of a home office so you don’t fall behind on important projects? Here’s what works for me:
- Keep office hours. If you plan to work from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., don’t do anything else but work. Don’t answer your house phone. Don’t check the mail. Don’t catch a few minutes of Oprah. Pretend your office is far from home, on the other side of town.
- Set the rules. Make sure everyone in your family understands that when you’re working, you cannot be disturbed. In his book, Six Steps to One Million Dollars, Gordon Pape tells the story of having a special code for his home office. Door open: I can be interrupted. Door slightly ajar: Interrupt me only if it’s important. Door closed: Unless there’s a fire, please don’t disturb me!
- Don’t juggle. Avoid trying to make dinner and sketch out ideas for a client’s brochure at the same time. You’ll only spill the sauce and mess up the drawing. Keep home stuff separate from work stuff.
- Be disciplined. A house is filled with tempting diversions. I know that when I’m up against a tight deadline with a client project, I suddenly get the burning desire to do just about anything else — like cleaning the toilets. Be your own tough boss. The more productive you are in your home office, the more time you will have later on for family and hobbies.
- Stock up. Make sure you have plenty of supplies, such as forms, paper, printer cartridges, etc. Nothing kills home office productivity quite like running out of an important necessity, like paperclips. (And if there’s a Starbucks on the way to Staples, you’re in real trouble!)
Go ahead and enjoy working from home. I certainly do. Just don’t forget that the most important word in “home office” is office.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice! It’s really so difficult to work at home sometimes because of all the distractions.
Of course, I also have the other issue… of being on ME time or FAMILY time, and having to fight an overwhelming urge to check my email “one last time” or work on a client file for “just one minute” etc. It must be psychological, but I find (sometimes) when I close the office door I’m less likely to go in for “one quick check” than when it’s wide open.
Still incredibly difficult, though, LOL. I’m on my 3rd week after taking the freelance plunge, so I’m working on setting up all my specific rules and office hours, etc. It’ll take a while of getting used to, but I absolutely LOVE the freelance life (and hope I’m a wealthy one soon – in the full sense of the word!)
Thanks for sharing! These are really great tips. There are so many instances when I’d get distracted from work like when my baby brother cries or when I feel like checking the fridge for another chocolate bar ^_^
I’ll be taking a break soon from working so I’ll keep these points on file. Thanks again for sharing!
Good advice. But everytime I see this kind of advice, it makes me wonder whether this was one of my intentions for working from Home. I wanted to be there for my family and be more available. So being at home really helps. But they also have to understand and give me the time and space to work.
I have my Home Office, but making a three year old understand the rules of office work is a bit difficult. So instead of putting in rules, I live the moment. If my kid wants to ‘work’ with me, I play along for a while. Seeing that smil eon her face when she is ‘working’ with her daddy is priceless. And being there for her as a parent is gonna be even more priceless.
And if I get disturbed I work a little late, after they go to bed. I try to cover a specific number of hours every day. But I dont stick to a strict schedule. It was the flexibility that drew me to freelancing.
OF course, when it comes to crunch time, I give priority to work. But the trick is to not to have too many crunch times.
I’m a voice-over professional, writer and translator, and my need for quietude to do my job is at times a source of conflict. My partner is a teacher, and I tell her that I would never think of interrupting her lessons, and I would only contact her in case of an emergency.
But because I do most of my work from home, it looks like I’m always accessible. Things that would normally wait till after business hours, suddenly become “important” and need to be dealt with, regardless of my schedule. From now on, I am going to use the “special home office code” and see how well that works.
On a side note: my neighbors don’t understand the concept of “working from home”. They think that I’m a lazy …… because they never see me leave for work. They don’t see me start the day at 7:00 AM, and sometimes finish at 10:00 PM. They have no clue that I’m working weekends because the 9 to 5 translator couldn’t finish his project and they need it done by Monday.
Don’t get me wrong: I love my freelance freedom, but it does come at a considerable price!
Netpreneur – The dilemma you mention is a sensitive one. It’s filled with emotion. There’s no RIGHT answer. Only you know what that is. If the “living the moment” approach works for you (in terms of reaching your income goals, flexible lifestyle, family time, happy clients, etc.), then you need to keep doing what you’re doing. If it’s not, then you may need to get creative and come up with slightly different approaches.
Paul – I think some of my neighbors think I’ve been unemployed for 10 years (that’s how long I’ve been working out of the house). And I have relatives who always ask me, “OK, so what EXACTLY do you do for a living again?” I explain it… only to have them change the subject right away. Because they don’t get it. At all!