Working from home - separating work/home life

[Reactivequation]

Was just wondering how other people who work from home manage to keep their work/business and home/personal lives sufficiently separate?

Until a few months ago, I worked for a large company in their head office, drudging into the office each morning bright and early and making my way back home again, downtrodden, well after the sun had disappeared.

The monotony and inflexibility of the job didn't work very well for me, but the structure and the fact that I was in an office did help to keep me focussed.


Now, I'm working for myself and working from home to keep costs down whilst I try to build my business up. Some days I'm based at one of my clients offices, 'hot-desking', so it's fairly easy to keep focussed - particularly as on these days I'm billing my client by the hour and therefore I only work on their projects whilst there.

Other days, however, I'm at home and find it very easy to become distracted and while away the time doing other things - housework, cooking, DIY, watching TV etc. All too often, I find myself with a stack of work still to get through by the time my partner is coming in from work, which means I tend to end up working late into the evening which eats into our time together.


My current plan is to set myself us a separate office area at home, taking over the little used conservatory, so that when I get up in the morning I can go off to work in my 'office', shut the door behind me and hopefully come to treat it as a proper work environment.


Just wondering really how other people manage to keep things a bit more separate?

Cheers,

 

[RedEvo]

There are some very low cost office sharing opportunities out there (Google it). Might work for you.

d

 

[Remote Resources]

It is difficult to do. I do it and I also have a one year old!!

I get up at 5:30am and work until he wakes up around 8:30. We do something fun and interesting until lunchtime. Have lunch then he goes to bed for about three hours, during which time I work again. I then often work late into the evening. My son has days out without me with family and will be attending nursery when I find him a half-decent one locally, and on those days, I work all day.

My problem is that I am also renovating a house and it needs constant cleaning. Trying not to deep clean the whole house every day is where I go wrong but in my head, I have just separated the two. I limit myself to one hour of cleaning per day during daytime hours and I do the rest in the evening when I would do it if I were going out to work.

I never watch TV during the day although I do sometimes have it on for my little one. TV is not a distraction (unless Curious George comes on, as I love the Dr John theme tune!).

You have to compartmentalise your life mentally. Only do chores/TV/other random rubbish when you would normally be at home if you were working full time. You have to be strict with yourself. Having a distinct work area also helps you to focus.

I am considering shared office space soon but until then, it's all in the mind!

 

[TOKN]

That's the best thing I've found. Have a space absolutely dedicated to work. Then you can go into that space and shut the door on home and vice versa. I found also (in spite of the flexible home working benefits) some of the best days work I've done have been setting an alarm going for breakfast have a coffee and read the news. Then get dressed (not too formally) and commute to the next room were the desk is. Setting an alarm and having a bit of structure gets you geared up for a clear line between work and home rather than a slow and easily reversible transition phase.

 

[Reactivequation]

Thanks for your feedback.

I have looked at shared office solutions and also cheap serviced offices, and hopefully if my business continues to grow this is something I can look very seriously at perhaps in the summer (when Mrs. Reactivequation is likely to want her conservatory space back!).

For now, I'm treating myself to a nice workspace - decent desk and chair, and will move myself into the conservatory where I can shut the door on 'home' during working hours.

 

[Successful Selling]

I read a book a while ago (i forget the name) but it mentioned 'multi-blocking'. The process is simple. You basically put 15 minutes to one side at various times of the day where you concentrate on the job in hand and ignore everything else. You do not answer the phone, the front door, emails etc etc etc and simply focus 100% on that job.

The key positives of doing this are;
1. Instead of 'drifting' through the day, you 'block' off specific parts of your diary for very specific tasks. I started doing this twice a day for 15 minutes to start off with and now multi-block 10-15 times a day. I find i am acheiving loads more than before.

2. Although I am only multi-blocking for 15 minutes at a time, I am now in the position where after the 15 minutes are up, I've usually found that I've made good progress and therefore continue for upto an hour still at the same intensity.

I do it for both work and personal tasks.

 

[thelegalstop]

it is not easy, but if you have a dedicated room to call "office", I think things will be better.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

have to agree. You have to 'go to work' if you don't then you will not handle the situation at all well.

I go to the office, I have tea breaks, lunch at lunchtime, and finish at a sensible time. OK it means that there are often evening sessions as well, but they are 'overtime'.

Self discipline is the hardest part of working from home once you master that you have cracked it. We get visitors and I ignore them, my wife will tell them 'he is working' and that is that. Doing this also stops people 'popping in to see you' as they 'know you will be here all day'. It will be hard initially, but then they eventually get it and will no longer think that because you work at home you ARE at home.

My daughter is 13 now, she has grown up with me working from home, and she knows that work time is work time, and will treat it as such.

Ok of course it is flexible and you can take time away e.g. my wife doesn't drive, I have a 13 year old daughter, so often times I need half hour off to run her somewhere. But once it becomes the exception, and those around you know that your work time is work time, it gets easier.

 

I've actually closed my premises about a year ago, converting a new office at home to work from there - my main reason being I spent all of my wakened life in the office, and had no home time hardly at all.

Nowadays, I have a customised office at home, and I still work madly long hours, but at least I can do some of the normal household duties during this time (eg putting a load of washing on, general household chores, putting a casserole into slow cooker etc).

There are advantages to both situations, but if you find that you are being distracted at home - then it might not be the best for you.

I am very happy to have cut the massive overheads large premises cost me, and I find that staffing issues are not such a problem now, but I have spent a long time getting my workflow correct and my office tailored to suit what I want to do.

I still seem to work long hours, but this is broken up a bit more now, since I seem to manage a 'life' in amongst it It will depend upon you I'm afraid, and if you can manage to separate the work/home life enough to function properly from a home office.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

We work at set times, usually I start at about 7am and finish around 6pm.

Obviously if a client needs me outside of these hours then I will help, same as when I worked for a company doing 9-5 at a desk.

I remember watching something on the BBC about this issue and the advice was to have seperate areas for work and home, so an office for example which you only use during your defined "work times", otherwise if you sit on the sofa working your work/life will tend to blur into one.

One lady on the program even went so far as actually dressing for work, even though she wasn't leaving the house, just it created a difference between work and personal time.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I worked from home for a while. One of the best moves I made was to hire my own office unit in a business complex. It means I can separate my home and work life. I wake up in the morning, go to work, focus on it 100% and then return home to switch off.

It has certainly increased productivity for me.

 

[Matt1959]

I've never found a problem with the physilogical aspect of working from home ie compartmentilising things or being distracted. the only time I've ever opted to working away from home was due to space constraints. Now I'm returning home to work this year and can't wait - no commuting, save a pile of money, "pop into work" in the evenings to catch up bliss for me

 

[Christine Hough]

Other days, however, I'm at home and find it very easy to become distracted and while away the time doing other things - housework, cooking, DIY, watching TV etc.

And posting on forums no doubt!

My dream is to have a garden office as I too find it hard to keep concentrated at home. Especially if I need space and then have to clear away for meal times before the job is finished.

 

[Jet Virtual]

There are obvoius advantages to working from home for many people. But (and this is a very BIG but) it depends on the type of person you are.

If you are the type that will get:

> easily distracted
> lonely
> less productive
etc etc

then you need to find somewhere else to work.

Even setting up an 'office' in your house will help take away most distractions but won't help the lonely feelings.

Best of luck

Daniel

 

[PDRD]

There is a life outside work? Now where has that gone. ....

 

[Paul_Rosser]

One lady on the program even went so far as actually dressing for work, even though she wasn't leaving the house, just it created a difference between work and personal time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11879241

Tawny Stitely, a management analyst at the Defense Information Systems Agency in the US works from home.

"It takes me just 30 seconds to get to work.

"I have a designated area in my home that I consider my office. My
company provides a work laptop for me to work from and that's basically all I need to do my job.

"I have an office in my family room, with a desk telephone and I always go to that area and that's my workspace."

She still dresses up and puts her make up on to create the formality of being in the office.

 

[cjd]

I've been a home worker for many years now - as has my wife - and neither of us has had any problem with it - we find it it liberating after years of commuting.

Compartmentalism wouldn't work for me - I'm never really not at work and never really fully at work. I let it blend into my life and out again when necessary and it suits me.

It must make a big difference what your job actually is, if it's something that needs to be done to regular deadlines and it's a bit of a drudge I can imagine it can be quite hard, but I'd find it even harder after a long commute.

But offices have their own distractions - all those bloody meetings.

 

[Beachcomber]

Problems with homeworking and staying focused?
(any excuse to post this again......!)

(nsfw)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk

 

[dolphinformations]

Interesting discussion for me as I've been working from home for the last 10 years! I absolutely love it, never get lonely/distracted and am quite efficient ie.get things done and reward myself by taking a 10-15 main break to watch TV/etc. Like I others have said it depends on the individual. BUT I do get obsessed about projects and "forget" to do sociable stuff, I've learned to keep it in check by balancing it with seeing friends etc.

 

[alwaysinamess]

I do it and I cant seperate it, I have tried though but now I even have to work with my missus virtually every single day of the year, just her, me and the dog and then she wants to go out together for a meal at night !!!

Ive tried to change it, took on a unit but I never worked from it, put the electric phone and internet on in there but still could not pull me away from my home.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

I do it and I cant seperate it, I have tried though but now I even have to work with my missus virtually every single day of the year, just her, me and the dog and then she wants to go out together for a meal at night !!!

I'm in the same situation m8 and feel your pain!

Hope your dog is more understanding when you have to work than mine.

 

[vvaannmmaann]

Nothing beats coming downstairs,totally naked,brewing up and going to the dining room table "office" and getting to work. A few hours later take the dog around the fields,a spot of lunch,a few more hours then stop.
I am very lucky.

 

[silvermusic]

Nothing beats coming downstairs,totally naked,brewing up and going to the dining room table "office" and getting to work. A few hours later take the dog around the fields,a spot of lunch,a few more hours then stop.
I am very lucky.

I hope you put some clothes on before taking the dog for a walk.

 

[alwaysinamess]

In my other gaff I used to walk everywhere naked, this place we are in now has windows everywhere and not only that but at every window there are 20+ other windows that can see in, but it is very light which is good.

 

[alwaysinamess]

I'm in the same situation m8 and feel your pain!

Hope your dog is more understanding when you have to work than mine.

My dog is although smaller, very much like that, he is not understanding at all unless he knows I am in a foul mood, then he will just hide somewhere, If I am happy he will always stop me but I love him being around !

Shame the missus is not like the dog !

 

[Paul_Rosser]

My dog is although smaller, very much like that, he is not understanding at all unless he knows I am in a foul mood, then he will just hide somewhere, If I am happy he will always stop me but I love him being around !

Shame the missus is not like the dog !

Mine always seems to want to sit on my lap when I have work to do, speaking to a client etc.

And the dog isn't much better

 

[vvaannmmaann]

I hope you put some clothes on before taking the dog for a walk.

Of course I do.Besides it was a condition of the restraining order.

 

[Jet Virtual]

Paul, your dog is scaring vvaannmmaann ^^^

I'm in the same situation m8 and feel your pain!

Hope your dog is more understanding when you have to work than mine.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Paul, your dog is scaring vvaannmmaann ^^^

Provided he isn't wearing a hat then he should be safe.

 

[Jet Virtual]

Provided he isn't wearing a hat then he should be safe.

Ok Paul I give up ... ??

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Ok Paul I give up ... ??

The hound only seems to go for people in hats...

 

[Jet Virtual]

The hound only seems to go for people in hats...

Paul where do you live? My mother in law wears a hat

 

[Paul_Rosser]

London at the moment.

PM me the address and I'll send him round.

 

[Jet Virtual]

London at the moment.

PM me the address and I'll send him round.

Shame she live in California ...

 

[Paul_Rosser]

That has to be a bonus!

 

[serendipitybusiness]

I love working from home and having the ability to work in my pyjamas and often do, just because I can! I have no problems focusing in on work, I work stupidly long hours so it helps to be able to switch it up between home duties and work duties to match my natural flow. Ie housework when I am brain dead after a long programming run, put the TV on in the background if I am doing design or research work etc.

However I do find that people don't respect the working time when you work from home and call for personal calls all the time or just pop in which if I am in work mode it is incredibly frustrating and often find myself working through the night to avoid interruptions both business and personal.

With all considered I wouldn't change it for the world and it is a godsend when you have to look after parents, spouce or children when sick or after an operation as you can work around this to an extent.

All I need to do now is go truly virtual and make the next step and move to a warmer country so I can actually enjoy going outside when I have a break!