I love working from home.
Those open-plan offices are pretty draining to be in day after day (not to mention distracting).
I mean, I do like people, just not having them there all the time. When I worked in big corporations, I’d sometimes mentally try to block out the ‘people noise’ and just focus on my work, to simulate being alone (nope, never worked). If I had less social awareness, I would have made a room for myself with my hair:
Now that I can pretty much have as much alone time as I want, I feel both more productive and more social. (Bonus: I can wear whatever I want, and exercise or shower at weird times.)
But there are two main problems with working from home:
- Working too little (procrastination)
- Working too much (and risking burn-out)
To be clear, I definitely haven’t nailed this. At various times I’ve found it hard to switch off, and ended up working longer hours than is productive. And sometimes I’m tired and the neighbours have hired someone to, seemingly, hold a weed eater as close to my window as possible during the exact time I need to concentrate.
But I have learned a few things about how to work well from home. Here are some ideas on how to work hard (but not too hard) when there’s no boss watching you.
The problem: You’re procrastinating
The solution: Don’t do it today
Do not put off until tomorrow what can be done today.
Except when you don’t want to do it today, and you don’t have to.
I’m completely serious. If you’re procrastinating, then telling yourself you can leave the task until tomorrow is often a huge relief. That relief gives you energy that you can use for the greater good.
So here’s the trick: instead of just leaving the whole thing until later, take steps to set yourself up for productivity tomorrow. That way, when tomorrow rolls around you’ll be much more motivated to do the real work, because it seems easier to do.
For example, if the thing you’re procrastinating about is writing a blog post, tell yourself that all you need to do is write an outline of what you’re going to write. Make it detailed enough that it starts to take shape (jot down the subheadings you’ll use, and the examples you’ll include), but not so detailed that it’s off-putting.
Once you’ve got a skeleton of the thing you’ll be writing, you can stop. Don’t look at it again until the next day; go and relax, make some tea, eat some chocolate. You did good.
Writing a skeleton of something is so much less intimidating than writing the actual thing. But once it’s done, you’re really clear about how you’ll go about writing the proper version, making it much easier to get stuck into it.
If you’re doing something besides writing, try breaking it down into steps and doing any other preparation, like gathering what you need (materials, phone numbers) for when you start the actual thing tomorrow.
But what if you really do need to get started now? Welcome to the magic of short breaks. Don’t sit there for ages trying to do work if it’s just not happening. It’s a waste of time. When you realise you’re just staring blankly at your screen, take a short break. Get away from the screen for five minutes. Then come back and try again.
If you’ve got a job that involves sitting at a desk and working online, things that count as a break are things that don’t involve the internet. Facebook will not refresh you. Instead, take a walk around the block, or just to the mailbox. Check on your worm farm. Declutter a shelf. Do some pushups. By getting away from my desk for a bit, I do better work once I come back.
The problem: You can’t switch off
The solution: Have a ritual
Do something that helps you transition into relaxation mode. Classic examples are to go for a walk, take a bath or turn on some music.
But you can do whatever signals to you that work time is OVER, whether that’s cuddling your cat or changing into different clothes. Plan to do that thing, ahead of time.
Your ritual doesn’t have to be the same every single day, unless that appeals to you. But make sure it’s something you enjoy and look forward to. If you like, you can use this time to take on a bigger (enjoyable) project, such as taking your yoga practice to the next level via daily YouTube yoga sessions, or reading your way through the classics.
And don’t feel guilty about taking 30 minutes or an hour to do something fun after work. Other people spend that time sitting in traffic at the end of the workday, so you’re still being more productive than that.