26

Nov

Working From Home: The Hard Facts

Isn’t life interesting that people who have office jobs  wish they could work from home while those who work from home wish they had an office?  Where do you prefer to work from? Home or office? Many people will choose ‘home’ without wasting time but soon enough, they realise that working from home is not as great as it sounds.

Don’t get me wrong. There are numerous advantages, especially the most famous one; you don’t have to dress up for work. Some of us barely put some clothes on!  ;)  However, these ‘freedoms,’ when not wisely managed can easily become major problems and a major impediment to your success in freelance writing.

One major example is working in your pajamas. Some writers eventually become rather slack and their productivity begins to dwindle. Why so? The ‘pajama’ attitude gets into your head and you begin to think that what you do is not all that important, which negatively affects your work.

Solution 1: Start dressing up for work. Begin to treat your job like any other and you will never run out of motivation. Wake up early and prepare as though you’re heading out for an office job. You can also find some space in the house and make it your ‘office.’ It can be anywhere, including the pantry.

People working from home do not tell you that they often get distracted and end up wasting a lot of valuable time on unimportant issues. The TV , pets and persons are major distractions. The problem with being your own boss is that you’re never afraid of getting reprimanded or fired.  The only disciplinarian you have is yourself.

Solution 2: Stay away from whatever distracts you, be it your cat, your spouse or the TV. You can always find away to avoid people or pets without making them feel dejected and unwanted. Make them understand that you need to make enough  money to pay the bills and  buy them Christmas presents. As long as there’s something in it for them, nobody will mind giving you some space to write.

When you’re working from home, it’s inevitable that some people will think that you’re a lazy bum who sits in the house all-day, playing with your computer. This could affect your relationship with such people and unless you’re nice enough to explain, you’ll probably lose a friend or two.

Solution 3: Find time for leisure and meet up with friends. Let them understand what you do, while you share work experiences. This should help your mind de-clatter and could even serve as a source of motivation and inspiration for your next project.

There’s so much more that happens while working from home that makes it less fun but with the right course of action, you can make it much easier  for you. With the right steps, you’ll easily learn to respect your work and so will others.