For the time being, I’m working out of a home office that also doubles as a guest bedroom. It makes the most sense to do so given the logistics of my current job, and to be honest… I’d rather work in sweats with NPR droning on all day long anyway. I’ll post about home office decor soon (hint: some of it might look familiar), but for now, I’d love some advice from my fellow telecommuters about time management. Particularly when our apartment is still full of unpacked boxes and a never-ending To Do list, I’m finding it really difficult to ignore the chores and focus on what I get paid to do for eight hours a day.
I have made one smart decision for my working self: driving my husband to work each day. It sounds silly, but waking up earlier than I might like to in order to get him to his office by 7:00 a.m. is the sort of routine that helps frame my work day, even if I’m the only one who knows it. By the time I get back to our apartment, I’m awake and ready for coffee – and much less likely to climb back into that cozy bed.
But oh, the distractions! Here’s what I have trouble with:
Unpacking and organizing. While our apartment is livable right now, there’s still so much that needs to be done. Working in the midst of boxes, it’s impossible to ignore them or feel like I can put them off until later. They’re right there. Just one box! And then I’ve unpacked ten of them. (And don’t even get me started on “just one quick Ikea assembly…”)
Daytime errands. It’s so much easier to run errands in the middle of the day than after normal work hours, when the rest of the world is running errands. More times than I can count, I’ve told myself how much more effective I’ll be doing that thing that needs doing in the mid-morning, and then I’ve justified it with the ease of city parking during the daytime. But as we know, one errand can so easily lead to an afternoon of them.
Service scheduling. “I work from home, so come at any time.” I’ve said it to cable guys, maintenance folks, building management, etc. And it’s true, I do work from home and I can receive them at any time… but if I’m on the clock should I really be assisting the building manager as he climbs behind our washer/dryer to fix the wiring?
Evening realities. Telling myself that I’ll make up for lost daytime hours by working at night has become a complete joke. When T gets home for the day, I want to be with him, not shut away in the home office. So if making up for lost time then isn’t a reality… when is it?
So tell me… what tips help you shut away the world while working from home (or at least quiet it a little)? Is it silly for me to expect so much of myself when our life is still in cardboard-boxed chaos? Should I get my apartment in order, then work my days away… or set my work rules now and early, when the best habits will stick?
Twitter: @savvybride
Girl I FEEL you on this!! When we first moved into our house I was faced with the same problem. Especially because I feel like everything has to be in its place before I can be calm enough to focus on other things.
And it’s so tempting to do those errands in the middle of the day- i enjoy going to the gym during the middle of the day because it’s less crowded and you don’t have to wait for machines.
And wanting to hang out with your hubs when he gets home- totally get that. My office is in our dining room so I can’t even shut a door to keep the temptations out.
Sometimes the best thing for me is to pack up my laptop and go to Starbucks. Seriously- getting away from all the to-do lists around the house is helpful for me.
Twitter: @LkyGrlEvnts
I too work from home and seem to have the opposite situation. I never stop working. At night, after the kids are sound asleep, I’ll sneak back into the office “just to check on something” which leads to 3 hours of site editing, finding great deals for clients and twittering. Then I’m past midnight getting to bed and wrecked the next morning!
My advice on your current situation would be to get the guest room/office clean, clear of clutter and make it an ideal working environment. If there are no boxes in there, then maybe you won’t be so tempted (and trust me, I understand the “just one box” theory). You could work on some stuff around the apartment on your lunch hour. Seriously, set a timer. Good luck!
You are definitely not alone here! Half of my work I do from home and it is quite a challenge to stay focused ( I’m writing to you, proof enough and also have been building a house for 3 years – quite distracting!).
I love that you drive your husband to work so early…good for you! The timer thing actually works great, set one for 15 minutes and allow yourself the luxury of tackling a “non-work” task. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in 15 minutes. Maybe do that 2 or 3 times a day. It does take discipline though, a trait which all us “homebodies” are trying to become friends with.
The distractions will never end – EVER – so it’s great that you’re trying to get a handle on this now. You can do it!
Twitter: @socalnewlywed
Ahhh yes, I work from home a lot too, and it can be a challenge.
On the weeks I work from home I spend Sundays cleaning, putting away stuff, and getting my office ready for the week. That really helps the distractions.
I totally know what you mean about errands!
.-= Newlywed Next Door’s most recent blog post: A Day in the Life of a Consultant on the Road =-.
I work from home about once a week, and I tend to do some minor chores like throwing in laundry on occasion, but that doesn’t take much time. It is definitely tempting to do errands during the day: today I went to the bank for some account stuff, at 10:30. It was so quiet, and no waiting! The banker was saying how busy it is at lunchtime and evening hours, so it feels much more time effective to go on the off hours – saving all that time waiting in line.
I guess the trick is to limit your errands. Maybe make a schedule for the week, with one small errand per day that you can do on “lunch hour” (even if it’s at 10 am) – try sticking to one hour or less, and if you can’t fit it in that window, you have to wait. Or if you go over the limit, the next day or two you can’t go out at all. As for dealing with the boxes, is that something you can do with your husband when he gets home? Then you get to spend time together, you get the organization done, and you don’t cut into work ours. I agree with at least getting your office in order as soon as you can, in order to have less distractions while you are in there.
.-= Eileen’s most recent blog post: living the questions =-.
Twitter: @Just1Week
I think that you should shoot for 4 productive hours per day (8am-noon). No gchat, no facebook, no email (unless truly needed for work), and just pump out 4 awesome, highly productive hours. They say that regardless of the amount of time spent at work, what we accomplish at work in any given day could have been accomplished in 4 hours. During those 4 hours, I like to do 50 minutes work, 10 min break (look at that Banana Rupublic sale, get water, etc.). But set a timer (I have a loud one on my laptop). You may end up working almost 4 hours straight because you’ve given yourself permission to do just 4 hours. Then at noon, while eating something – make your non-work to do list. What errands do you have to run? What box do you want to unpack? Schedule all service peeps to come after 12 noon. At 1pm, return to “work” – but without the guilt that if you happen to get interrupted by boxes/errands/etc. because you know you’ve had a successful work day. I should note – this is what I aspire to do, and on days I do it, I feel awesome. I’m more productive in those 4 hours than most days where I don’t keep myself to a schedule. But I’m not all that self-disciplined sadly :( Good luck!!
.-= Erin’s most recent blog post: Thank You! – I Now Have a Hobby =-.
Twitter: @melissamaday
I work from home, too, and I echo what Erin said.
I schedule 6 hours out of my 10-hour day that will be devoted to work, and I don’t let myself stray too far from it during those times. By doing this, I have time for errands and household chores and the other things I feel somehow compelled to do because I’m in the apartment all day.
.-= Melissa’s most recent blog post: Over and Onward =-.
Twitter: @jennacole
I’ve recently begun to feel overwhelmed by how little I feel like I’m able to get done, due to many of the reasons you listed above and that others have mentioned.
Recently I started writing down everything I do during the day, you know like 20 minutes showering, 20 making breakfast, 1 hour answering emails, etc. I’ve done so for about 10 days and tomorrow I’m going to sit down and categorize all of my time spent in different areas and then determine how much time I should be devoting to each area of my life (my business, my personal blog, baby prep, cleaning, church, etc) and then husband is going to make me an excel spreadsheet that will help me calculate how much time I have left for a given area each week. When I reach the limit on personal blog time, for instance, I’m going to start until the week starts over again. I hope it helps both, A, see that I *am* actually getting stuff done, and B, prioritize my time a bit better so I can see how I can be more effective/efficient in different areas of my life.
.-= Jenna’s most recent blog post: Brain Dump IV =-.
My home office is the room over our garage – someone much wiser than me told me to treat it as a real office – once I walk through that door, I am on company time. I close the door and ignore the chores that beckon from the other side. It takes discipline, but it does become a habit. I also schedule the visits from cable, repairmen, errands etc. just as I would if I worked from an office. If I have a lot going on, I schedule it all for an afternoon (wednesday are good – sort of a hump day break) and pln accordingly – and get to the office ‘early’ that day to compensate.
It’s something i tell my friends all the time – working from home is not for everyone. In the beginning my husband told me to dress for work everyday – that really helped with my frame of mind. I notice now when I ‘slip’ and go into the office in sweats to do some things before I take a shower, it throws my day off. it also helps that I have a lot of conference calls that I have to be in the moment for and travel frequently. My time in the office has to be productive.
Great tips.
If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage and prioritize your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
Comes with a mobile version too, and with an Android app.