Being able to work from home is a privilege. Not having to take part in the daily commute, not dealing with sticky office politics and having the chance to be at home with the family can be an absolute blessing. The only downside – other than not having a particularly social time of it – is that your boundaries between home life and work life are totally blurred. It can be so difficult to separate your job from your family, and it’s not exactly easy to work in the same environment you are trying to manage a household.
Not all home based workers have a separate office that they can retreat into every day, so it’s important to create your own boundaries and space to work. You want to be able to integrate different areas of your life, but not if being at home is going to mean that your work gets interrupted. So, if you want to create a better work/life balance, check out our tips below!
- Get Connected. During the holidays and evenings, the house is full, with the kids and family all using the same internet and TV services. You need to be able to keep working without much interruption so looking at your ISP services and ensuring you’re getting the best speed for your cash is an essential. You don’t necessarily need to have an office set up, but it would make sense to have a dedicated space for your laptop/tablet to go so that no one else is allowed to use them.
- Dress Up. You may not be heading out of the house to get to the office, but staying in your pajamas to work can make you feel really tired and lacking in motivation. Choose to get yourself dressed in the morning, even in casual clothes, as you can differentiate between relaxing and working.
- Timetable Work. You may not have a set work time, but you probably still have deadlines to work towards. Make a point of attaching a timetable of work to stick to, even in the most basic of forms. Block out a set time a day you want to get work done, and stick to it!
- Take Breaks. The kids being in the house can be a distraction from work, so make a point of taking regular breaks to have some fun with them. Blurring the lines between household chores and work doesn’t have to be a bad thing if you can get in some quality time with the little ones.
- Strict Times. If you are choosing to work for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the afternoon, make sure you don’t do any more work beyond your ‘cut-off’ time. Putting down the work at 4pm and enjoying family time can help you keep a fantastic balance.
Working from home can be everything you imagined it would be, but you have to give yourself a chance for it to work properly. Your family matters just as much as earning money, but you need to put effort into both for the arrangement to work.
