Working from home is great; you get to be in your own environment, decide your own hours and, best of all, you can wear your pyjamas all day if you want. But ladies, there are pitfalls to using your pad as your office. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate yourself to get down to business in your own home and, on occasion, cabin fever tends to sets in. But girls, these problems are easily conquered; here’s a list of seven tips to help you work like super-woman …
Just because you don’t need to leave the house, don’t allow yourself to lounge in bed till midday. If you can, get up very early and get straight down to work. This means your projects get finished sooner and you free up more time to other things later.
While it is tempting in all working environments to drink endless cups of coffee, try to restrain yourself. Too much caffeine just means you’ll crash super-hard at some point. Buy yourself herbal tea sachets and drink those instead; they’re much better for you and won’t leave you feeling exhausted, unable to enjoy your day.
Try to conduct your day basically as you would in an office. Don’t let yourself run to the kitchen every time you feel like a cookie. Instead, structure your hours so that you eat breakfast, snacks and lunch at certain times and work in between these. You’ll find you spend less time procrastinating over the biscuit tin and your waistline won’t expand
Being in charge of your own schedule really is one of the most significant perks of working from home. Unlike people confined to an office, you don’t have to squeeze a workout into your lunch hour, or trek to the gym after a long day’s slog. Organise your day to include an hour of exercise; you’ll feel energised afterwards and will come out fitter in the long term.
There is a danger, when you’re working from home, that you will simply never take a break. This can be as damaging as endless procrastination, and will result in you feeling stressed and anxious. Set yourself deadlines and once their met, relax.
Don’t let your work take over your home. Try to set up boundaries, in space and in time, which clearly separate home life from office life. Tell yourself you will not work after five o clock, for example, or that you won’t sit in bed on your lap top, but will rather type away in the study.
Don’t allow yourself to become a hermit. Make sure you get dressed, do your hair and leave the at least once every two days. Just because you work from home doesn’t give you an excuse to let yourself go; stay in touch with friend, walk your dogs, go shopping …
Do any of you work from home, ladies? What are your survival tips? Share them: I’d love to compare notes …
Top Photo Credit: Show Appeal Realty