We all know the ‘perks’ of working from home: work as little or as much as you want, wear what you want, nip out for lattes or personal errands, throw in a load of laundry, work into the night. Want to have an extended lunch with your friends? No problem, you can make up the time later…after all, your home office is on-site, always there and always accessible, right? No problem, that is, as long as you keep the balance. But tip the scales and you may feel like a revolving door between your personal and business world.
In working with a variety of clients in their home offices, I have found that a common cause of frustration stems from not having boundaries.
The key to achieving a work/life balance when working from home lies in creating both physical and time boundaries between your work and your personal life.
Without physical boundaries that claim a dedicated work space, it is easy for your ‘office’ to become overrun with personal materials that really don’t belong there. Conversely you may find your work materializing in places throughout your home where they don’t belong either. A defined area dedicated solely for work purposes, and equipped with precisely the materials you need, will keep your office confined and much more manageable.
Without time boundaries that define your working hours, it can be difficult to know how much time you are actually spending on work. Without designated starting and stopping points your work day can feel ambiguous. If you constantly switch back and forth between business and personal tasks, by default you may be working later than necessary to get your work done each day. Allocating a specified time frame for business will help ensure only business gets done during those hours, so you can switch off and relax at the end of play.
Everyone’s hours are different, and I’m not suggesting that everyone adopt a 9-5 work day. But most likely you know how much time you need to carry out your work and what hours are available to you. By planning your work hours and personal time in advance, you will be in a much better position to stay on track and maintain the balance with far less stress.
How do you do it? Here are a few tips to help get you started:
5 Tips on setting physical boundaries:
1. Select a room or area where you will be likely to work. You may have a room downstairs that seems ideal for an office, but if it makes you feel secluded or doesn’t have good lighting, you may find yourself sneaking out often or avoiding getting to work.
2. Try to have everything you will need at arms reach, including your printer, reams of paper, shredder, stationery, etc.
3. Ensure your materials have a home so it will be easy to put everything away when you end your work for the day.
4. Remove anything that doesn’t belong there and return it to where it lives.
5. If you must store non-work items in your home office or work space, aim to keep them to one confined area and consider labelling if necessary so you won’t waste time rooting through personal stuff for business needs.
5 Tips on setting time boundaries:
1. Decide your best hours for accomplishing your work each day and stick to it. Depending on your profession it may be that you work early or later in the day. Or perhaps you liaise with contacts in different time zones, so you will need to take that into consideration.
2. Learn to handle or minimize interruptions so you can stay focused on getting your work accomplished.
3. Share or communicate your work schedule with anyone you share your home with so they know to keep interruptions to a minimum when you are “working”.
4. Set a timer for 15 minutes before the close of your day to stop, wrap up and plan tomorrow morning. The timer will signal the shift of shutting down work for the day so you can transition into your personal time.
5. Designate an activity that further seals the transition, such as changing clothes, putting the kettle on, going for a walk, anything that will take you out of work mode.
One final thought: Treat your home office as an off-site location. Get up, get showered and dressed for work, grab a cuppa and – if it helps – actually tell yourself you are on your way to the office. When you leave it, really leave it and don’t go back until the next business day.
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