Working from home has been a wonderful challenge in and of itself. Have I overcome the challenges of family, friends, my own innate procrastination and other distractions? Uhmmmmmmm not even close and if you are at all like me, neither have you!
I recently read "How I Mastered the Challenge of Working From Home" by Alyssa Gregory. I feel her pain and her triumph. For her, the three biggest challenges are Kids, Isolation and Unplugging. I can agree with all of these in some fashion. She ends her post with two questions that I have pondered
- What are your biggest challenges of working from home?
- What solutions have helped you?
So without further rambling, here are my top two challenges and how I attempt to over them (and yes I do mean ATTEMPT LOL!)
#1: Procrastination
I am a master procrastinator. I think it is a personality trait of mine and not a particularly good one. I can always find something else to do that could wait! The end result of this is that I play catchup as deadlines loom. The further away a deadline is, the less getting done today for that deadline.
My solution is to set shorter deadlines.
At the beginning of each week, I take my work calendar (MS Outlook) and create tasks that must be completed that week. Each task to be completed has a due date and may have dependencies as well. Since Outlook automatically turns a task red when the due date is missed, I have a visual reference for how I am doing that week. I can also use the status and percent complete to keep track of progress.Typically, I put 3 tasks per day to complete. Each task should take no longer than 2 hours. I give myself at least two hours of "free time" in my work day.
#2: What are my office hours?
Even after 10 years of working from home, I still find family and friends to be forgetful that just because i am in my sweats or pjs, I am still at work. I also find that I have to remind myself, I am still at work! It's a two way street.
When I first starting working from home, wireless networks were in their infancy. Wi-fi hotspots, aircards and smart-phones were things of the future! Heck in the first year as a consultant, I was still using dial up when at my house! This made it easier to be tethered to a desk! Therefore office hours were accomodating to client timezones but all were done in an office. Today with my smart-phone, my aircard, or wi-fi, I can pretty much work anywhere. What are my office hours?
My solution:
- Set up time each day I spend tethered to my desk in a dedicated office.
- Jea knows that a closed door means Mommy cannot be disturbed.
- Sharing with Bill and Jea when those hours will be each day.
- Is determined by both my work schedule of calls and family activities/errands.
- Use my aircard, my smartphone or wi-fi hotspots when I want to take Jea to the playground or run errands/take a trip or take Jea to dance class
- Not opening my laptop for two hours each evening. Those are reserved for dinner and family time. While the actual timeframe may change to accomodate client priorities/timezones, the number of hours does not! (This is the one that is the hardest for me to follow! I love to play and chat on the computer; just ask my friends and colleagues who find me online at 2 am some nights!) I previously posted about why I want to shut down the computer: SimplyFun Article Got me to Thinking!
Nice blog. Keep going on
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