Work from home? Create your own routines!
Work from home? Create your own routines!
I have been lucky to have worked from home since I
started my business nine years ago and have managed to develop a routine which works
for me.
When I started out, I felt that I should set working
hours and stick to them. I tried all the ‘train your brain’ tactics to trigger
my ‘servant’ response and fool myself I was attending a regular workplace. I’d
had practice in being an employee, so I knew the drill. I got up in the morning
showered, dressed, grabbed breakfast and left by the front door. Then I walked
off the porch along the driveway and back up again, let myself in and turned
left into my office.
I’m not sure who I was trying to fool, but it ended up
making me laugh at myself and I gave up after a week.
Then I used a time book. Clocked myself on and off. I had
normal morning tea and lunch breaks, but I would go back into the main part of
the house to grab a coffee and a sandwich. Then I went through a phase of using
an old coffee maker in the office and keeping a tin of biscuits on hand.
I was strict on myself. Housework was left until after
hours, despite my longing to stick a load of washing in the machine or soaking
some dishes in the kitchen sink. My only exception was taking the dog outside
for its usual needs when my husband wasn’t home to do this.
Who was I kidding! I was at home. I was my own boss
and the only person I needed to answer to was myself. My clients didn’t care if
I worked away at their projects in the evening or at weekends – only that I got
the jobs done.
I had swapped one inflexible workplace for another.
Before the madness got the better of me, I came to a
realisation. Despite many work-from -homers insisting the only way to manage a
day was to treat the situation as if we really were working in someone else’s
office, I know this to be nonsense.
We work from home. It’s a fact. All the trappings of a
household are around us and instead of ignoring them until a designated workday
is finished, we need to build them into our day and be happier and better for
it.
You don’t even have to get dressed for it!
Mind you, I’d recommend putting away the PJs for
something slightly more grown up if you are meeting with clients face to face,
but these are the tips I have come up with which work for me:
1. For
Zoom meetings: brush your hair, put on lipstick if that’s what you’d normally
do face to face and a clean top – don’t worry about pants or shoes. Wear your
slippers and trackies because no one will see!
2. Clothes:
If you feel more professional and more ‘worky’ by putting on proper work
clothes, then do it – keep your slippers on if you want though. If you want to
work all day in your track pants and a t-shirt, then do that. No one will see.
Just brush your hair in case a neighbour calls!
3. Housework:
Do what you can when you feel like it. Pop a load of washing in the machine and
walk away. Walk back later and hang it on the line or stick it in the dryer. Go
back again later still and put your lovely clean laundry away.
4. Meals:
Think about easy to plan and make meals during the week. Do some pre-prep, pop
something in the slow cooker.
5. Breaks:
Make sure you take proper breaks. Get up and stretch. Take the dog outside. Eat
a proper healthy lunch.
If you have a To Do list keep working through it, but
don’t feel you have to sit at your desk all day without moving around. Take a
few minutes to do some minor housework if it’s bugging you, work your day
around the notion that you are at home and able to do some things in the
background while you get on with your client work.
Working from home is the most amazing game changer, but
only if we take advantage of it!
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