Working from home is actually much harder than going to a workplace for it. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm an effective priorities manager. I also structure my day & my home to facilitate working from home. My formal work day usually lasts until 5:00 p.m. because that's when other businesses are available. During that time I handle anything that involves contacting other businesses, whether it's personal or business related. It's all part of MY business - it's either personal financial or arrangements or having directly to do with my work. Not being a morning person, I usually start my working day around noon, take a meal break anywhere from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m, then do whatever else needs to be done in the evening hours. Usually that's when I do domestic chores & socializing. Most socializing is with family & spiritual friends so it's also a time of growth, ideas, learning, sharing for me. It's also a time of service to others. Usually when I'm going to do Reiki on someone or their pet, I do it in the evening. That's also phone time, when I combine helping & listening, give love & contact, & receive. Then I try to have quiet time. I snack, read a book or watch TV & knit. I say quiet time because that's when I wind down from my day, the work & interactions. I'm one who has to have a few hours of alone time most evenings before I go to bed. That's when cats snuggle with me or hang around keeping me company. I usually end up "working" 13 out of every 14 days & taking a Saturday off. I'm not sure how many hours of "work" I actually put in each week, or most days. I live my work, as I said. One day my work might be making apple butter & doing the things that need to be done regularly in a home. One day my work might be making face pillows or making soup. But what I do is loosely follow the structure of daytime office workers. I've just shifted the hours & usually include some of the weekend. Every once in awhile I take a day off during the week instead of a weekend. But for the most part, at least 5 days a week during a regular work week I consider those daytime hours to be devoted, just as if I was away from home in an office.
My first successful work from home experience was Tupperware in the mid 1980s. Back then I had a young child at home to care for also. At the time, Tupperware gave the greatest support training & one thing was on how to work from home & keep your children happy. I learned to stop & give my daughter attention when she needed it, & how to keep her happy while I worked. I'd give her "work" of her own to do near me. She had paper & crayons & pencils, an area of her own, a toy phone, etc. We'd each be occupied "working" for a reasonable time period for her age, then take a break & do something together, & I'd also give her the planned reward for cooperating with my need to work. And of course I took working advantage of nap times. It was actually harder to work from home with my last husband, who wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. He was supposed to be working also, but would IM me while I was on the phone or come to my office for attention when I'd "forget" to turn on IM. (Of course I hadn't forgotten!) Each time, I'd insist on my boundaries until he finally got the message. He was very unhappy with me, but that's ok. At least one of us was then working! I clearly told him when my business hours were, & reinforced it. When you work at home, you have to do that with family & friends. Everyone knew not to call me during those hours unless they really needed me. I didn't check my personal email account during that time, so I wasn't distracted, & I kept my email accounts separate for that reason. I still do. To successfully work from home you have to be very clear about your boundaries during working hours & reinforce them. You do it kindly & with love, as gently as you're allowed. Sometimes gentle doesn't work so you have to be more forceful about it. Fortunately, now the biggest interrupters are my cats & when they want attention you either have to give it or oust them & shut the door. I usually choose to give it because after a few pleasant moments together, the cat is satisfied & gone & I enjoy the time with them. It can be the same way with children, especially depending on where you work from home.
How you structure your home when you work from home is another thing to consider. The environment needs to be as pleasant & non-distracting as possible. It's got to be pleasant so you want to go work there. I keep my office separate & clean, as uncluttered & pleasing as possible. It's bright & sunny, spacious & organized. One vital part is my day planner, which keeps me on task. It allows me to clear my mind of personal & other business - it's written down according to priority & when things have to be done. My whole life goes there, social & business & personal business. That way nothing gets lost, no crossed wires or double-booking, nothing gets neglected or forgotten. I don't lose pieces of papers with messages or notes because things go in the planner pages. It's spacious so I have room for it all. My office has a door I can shut if necessary, & all I need in order to do the paper & computer part of what I do. I have 2 small file cabinets for notes & supplies, for personal, business, & personal business. I have a separate studio for creating products, painting, etc. I do my creating in one room & the business aspects of all I do in the office. I find this separation necessary for my head. It's much harder for me to create & flow in a room with a computer, files, bills, etc. I try to keep my studio free of "must do" things like something that needs to be repaired, keep it simply a creative atmosphere that brings me great joy when I enter it. It too has a door I can close, because of the cats.
Some of us have our entire homes or most of it as part of our business. That will be true for me once I start the B&B. Then you have to have some personal space for you & your family to just be. You really have to be careful about establishing boundaries at that point - for those who come to your home as well as yourself, your family, your pets. The cats have places just for them to retreat if they wish, including having their food & water out of the way & their litter boxes downstairs. That part of the house won't be open to visitors. I will have guests who wish to participate or learn, share space with me in my kitchen &/or studio working on things. Most of my house will be accessible so I'll have to keep it clean & picked up, but that's how I want to live anyway. Yet there will be cat toys on the floor in every room. To me, it's homey, & I'm certainly not going to drive myself crazy trying to keep their toys picked up, deprive them, & create an unnatural, hotel like environment. When I decided to do the B&B, I thought through what I did & didn't want in my life & home first. I will still have my private spaces, including my office, & the cats (my live-in family) will have theirs. I find that when you work from home you have to be really creative about your use of rooms & spaces. A separate area just for the business works best when possible but often isn't. An example of a great separate area is a beauty shop attached to the side of a house. Sometimes it's possible to turn a garage or smaller separate building on the property into the place of business. Sometimes it's a basement or upper floor or attic. Sometimes the main home is needed for the business & any one of these other types of areas can be converted into a private retreat for family members who would otherwise be inconvenienced within the home. But with some creative work, most homes can somehow accommodate your business needs. I've used tall bookcases set side by side as room dividers when necessary, transformed little nooks, etc. Working from home can be the greatest challenge in the business world, but it also gives you so many opportunities to maximize your time, efforts, life, energy, & space.
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