The formidable Deborah Meaden recently wrote a useful; article on how to get the most from working from home. The article is one in a long line of pieces giving tips and rules for home working, but is definitely more useful and specific than most. Deborah’s tips included removing distractions, eliminating disruption, organising finances and keeping in contact with clients.
Although I’ll be taking some of Deborah’s tips on-board, there are other popular rules for home working which are regularly touted that I know are just counter-productive for me personally. Forgive me readers, for these are the rules I break:
Have set working hours: Give me a window of time to work in and I’ll find a window to stare aimlessly out of. Give me a task and I’ll get it done in as long as it takes. I always use my trusty note book work to set out what I want or need to achieve in a day. If it takes two hours, then hello afternoon reading session or mega productive work day, but if it takes eight or longer then so be it. Also, I love freelancing because every day is, or can be, different, so if I started to try and make them all the same, I’d be missing the point a bit.
Have a clearly defined work space: I have a set work office but I must admit I don’t always use it. Sometimes I do, but when I “force” myself in there I start to feel like I’m back at work and chained to a desk again. I don’t have a desk phobia or anything like that - I sometimes work in my front room, on the kitchen table or in the library. I like to change it up. I was even known to work from bed a couple of mornings in the depths of winter – the mere thought of the cost of having the heating on non-stop made me come over all faint. You may tut but I still got the work done!
Get up and dressed as if you’re going to work everyday: Do many people actually do this? And by getting dressed for work I mean putting something on that doesn’t have an elasticated waist and which you would have happily gone to the office in in your previous life. I thought that clarification might see off a few goody two shoes at the back.
I do quite like the idea of putting on a full shoulder-padded power suit each morning, complete with sculpted 80s blusher and Pat Butcher ear-rings, just to sit in my little office, but that would be purely for my own amusement, rather than actually helping me feel more professional and focused on work. There must surely be some rules on getting dressed for work, though – no food stains and must be suitable for answering the door, for example. A fellow freelancer over on the forum also so rightly pointed out a very wise rule of her own: “I don't go near the computer until I've put on my make-up and my knickers!”
My working from home approach is not totally lawless though and I think some rules for yourself are a good thing. You just have to set your own that work for you and your situation – as surely that was the point of setting up on your own in the first place?
What are your working from home rules and which ones do you love to break? (Click here for Sarah's thread on the forum.)
Sarah Wray
Apr 8, 2009
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