“I wish I could sit around at home all day!” -the multitudes when I tell them I work from home.
That phrase sounds like quite a heinous thing to say to someone… I couldn’t agree more (people born without Mouth Filters installed). But as social media continues to de-socialize the comfort level we once had with face-to-face interactions, you would not believe how many times a person has said something like this to me, innocent of the insult hidden within the words.
Over the last three years, I have decided that most of these people mean no harm. However, just as “the grass is always greener on the other side” is a wise old adage we forget all too often, we tend to forget that work is exactly what it says it is; WORK.
If you work Monday-Friday, where is the last place you want to go on a Saturday? Where you work. Maybe you don’t even have to work that day, but simply stepping into the environment can fill you with disdain and make you feel like part of your day off was tainted. Furthermore, study anyone who has your “dream job” closely enough, and you will soon discover that they can list plenty of negatives about the job. Even a work environment with a killer break room that has everything to eat, everything to drink, various video game consoles, and a nap room cannot compare to your home, and even being CEO of Apple comes with its downsides. And so it all is with working from home.
There was a time when I became so obsessed with my work that I worked all of the time, and since my work was at home, that meant that I “brought my work home with me,” so to speak. Then, I would try to relax on a Saturday, but I felt like I was still at work! So, how do you do it? How do you work from home and not let home become your place of work?
I had to learn through a lot of trial and error how to work from home, and some of it was quite painful. It takes a lot of self-discipline, and it takes a strong work ethic; things that don’t come naturally or easily. But the simple answer to the question of how to work from home can be summed up in one beautiful word that we often use with a negative connotation: ROUTINE.
Hopefully, these tips will keep you feeling like your work is work, your home is home, and most importantly family time belongs to family. If you work from home or are thinking about making the transition to doing so, this is for you, but even if you commute to work, I think there are many things here that you can put into practice for a better quality of life overall.
STEP 1: Search your home for a place of business.
The major reason your work and home life can blend together when working from home is simply because you allow them to be blended. Don’t do that! Find a room (mine is the bonus room of our house) that can be your office. Do you work in your office. Leave your work in your office. When it is your day off, do NOT go into that office!
You want to use walls to your advantage. As much as possible, close your work into that one room, and do not let it break free of those walls!
STEP 2: Freakin’ GET OUT OF BED and also PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON.
I was sitting outside of Jason’s Deli one day, waiting on a lunch appointment to arrive, and a guy about my age walked up to an older man sitting on the bench next to mine and said, “Sorry I’m late. Still had my pajamas on.” The older gentleman said, “Well, you can do that now! How is working from home?” I shook my head and thought, “He will learn the hard way.”
Working from home is absolutely not an excuse to sleep in. Don’t you dare do that! Set an alarm. Wake up with said alarm. Exercise or fix coffee or whatever you would do next with a commuter’s job. Take a shower. Get dressed, and PUT YOUR SHOES ON!
Putting your shoes on is HUGE because you typically leave your shoes on at a commuter’s job, and you typically take your shoes off when you get home. So, put on your shoes to work. Take them off to relax. Remember, we are trying to create work/home life boundaries.
STEP 3: It would waste money to drive to work… but you can walk.
Spring, Summer, and Fall, one of my favorite things to do is to take an early morning walk to work. I simply grab a coffee, walk out my front door, and I head down the sidewalks of our subdivision. I keep it short because I’m not trying to break a sweat or anything, but it really makes me feel like I traveled at least a little bit to get to work. And in the evenings, my wife and I always take a walk for a mile or two, which tends to make me feel like I walked home from work.
STEP 4: Schedule breaks but don’t. Touch. That. TV.
You watch television at home. You watch it with friends. You watch it with your kids. You watch it with your wife. You do not watch television at work because then, you are not working. This is simple: Leave. It. Off. Just don’t even turn the thing on. Don’t.
STEP 5: Have business hours.
I’ve had a client that would only call at 9pm or 10pm. He liked to do that on weekdays and even weekends. I talked to him about it multiple times. I established hours with him, but he still did it. Clients like this try to rule your life, and they do not respect your time, so I actually fired him as a client… should have done so way sooner, too.
Especially if you are a freelancer, have set hours of operation for your business! And this is not just for keeping clients at bay; it’s for you. You might just become a workaholic if you don’t set a cut off time each day. My times are typically 8am-6pm with a buffer to 8pm if necessary (after all, video requires a lot of time). Communicate these hours with your client, but also communicate them with yourself and stick to them!
There are many more things I could say about working from home, like how to handle social media (not all bad when you work from home). However, this post was all about boundaries and not letting your work and your home become the same thing, destroying your relaxation time and stealing your joy. There are many benefits to working from home (getting to use your own toilet), but you can’t enjoy them without becoming your own disciplinarian and establishing a set routine… the human body loves routine.