Thanks to technology, more of us are working from home than ever before. I’ve been a home-based entrepreneur for more than a decade, and I’ve worked with and coached tens of thousands of others with the same professional digs. So I know it can offer the flexibility, autonomy and productivity that I simply couldn’t find when I reported to an office everyday as a lawyer and, later, a public relations executive. But I’ve also witnessed—both personally and with my colleagues—that the benefits can be elusive if you don’t approach the work you do from home as seriously as you would if you were within the walls of an out-of-home office.
I’ve seen time and again that the sure-fire way to slowing down or sabotaging your success is by failing to make your work a priority. This dictates how you set up your home office, how you structure your days and how fiercely you protect your time. And when you’re juggling career, kids and a work-from-home spouse like I do, it becomes exponentially more important.
Dedicated home office space is a must
If you were in an office, your boss would make sure you had a designated place for you to do your job that creates a Pavlovian response of “I’m here, so it means it’s time to work.” So why do you expect you’re going to be able to make magic without setting up a workspace of your own in your home? The kitchen table or the homework nook you share with your kids won’t give you the permanent place for you and your work projects. Even in the most space-challenged places, I’ve seen home office spaces created from cabinets and Pinterest-inspired closet conversions. And in the absence of a door, opt for a screen to block off and out others you share your space with. If there’s no room for a physical barricade to protect your biz space, come up with something that signals you’re off limits, like an ornament hanging from a shelf or when you’re wearing headphones.
Having a designated space also helps you confine your work to work hours, instead of spreading it all over your home and the rest of your life. Compartmentalizing your work will help you stay present and focused on the other priorities in your life.
Structure is your friend
Working from home offers a lot of flexibility, which can be a godsend for those of us who are trying to juggle our careers, family, self-care and more. But flexibility is dangerous when it threatens consistency. That’s why structured time management is key.
Those of us who work from home face a never-ending string of enticing distractions, from the constant presence of the fridge, the laundry, the TV and the dog, to unexpected ones like a ringing doorbell. A lot of work-from-homers think that their inability to stay to focused is a sign of weakness or lack of discipline. I know it’s simply a symptom of a lack of structure and boundaries, especially when distractions unique to working from home can come up on the daily. If you don’t know what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it, your precious time will get eaten up by a host of other things.
For the last seven years I’ve made sure I know exactly what I’m doing every day. On Sunday afternoons I invest in the invaluable ritual of plotting out my entire week. Everything I need to do in all parts of my life—work, kids stuff, workouts, date night with my hubby—gets plugged into my iCal. This includes time for breaks when I take our labradoodle for a walk or have my quiet time to destress and reset. And I put the most challenging work tasks at the beginning of the day when I’m freshest and fiercest and before the day has any chance of getting derailed by a call from the school nurse or a burst water heater. I stick to this daily schedule religiously, and if it’s not on there, I don’t do it. I’ve even accepted that if the doorbell rings, just because I’m home it doesn’t mean I have to answer it.
Then every evening before I shut down for the day, I look at the day ahead. I get a handle on anything that’s changed in my schedule or things I need to tweak because, let’s face it, life happens. So when I get to work the next day, I’m not wasting any time trying to fix a jostled schedule.
Know when enough is enough
When you don’t physically leave your place of work at the end of the day, it can be really challenging to leave your work and get to the rest of your life. While having a designated workspace can help, the constant pull of doing just one more thing since you’re already “at work” is real and pernicious. That’s why it’s essential to get crystal clear on what your other priorities are in your life outside of your career and make the time and space for them. And lucky for us, as long as we’re being smart with our work hours, we have more flexibility to serve them.
