Insane In The Membrane: Work From Home Without Going Crazy
“You get to work from home? That must be so cool? You’ve got a fantastic job!”
This is how people react when you tell them you don’t’ work in an office. As you can tell, they’ve never worked outside of their corporate workplace in their lives. Anyone who has would know that trying to be productive in your own house is tough. It’s not only the distractions but the atmosphere. It’s as if being at home instantly means it’s time to slack off.
However, your success depends on a high level of output so there’s no time for procrastination. Here’s how to stay sane in the face of adversity.
Train The Brain
The odds are you spent a lot of time in your previous job dealing with interruptions. Usually, a desk jockey can’t go 30 minutes without something coming over with something “urgent.” Your lack of focus will permeate into your home working life and this can be dangerous. Now, it’s not birthday parties or meetings grab your attention but social media, and that’s far more addictive. What you need to try and do is to retrain the brain into working for longer periods without losing concentration. Francesco Cirillo recommends the Pomodoro Technique.
Analyze The Connection
Damn it – the wifi has lost connection again and that’s another hour wasted. This week, you might have left half a day on the table and it’s frustrating. When your focus is high, you can’t do anything because you’re offline. It’s enough to smash the keyboard in frustration. The only way to rectify the situation is to research the specs. Speak to a company like Sudden Link to see what speed you should be getting and compare it against what you’re actually receiving. If necessary, leave and find a new supplier. Also, have a personal hotspot as a backup plan.
Remember The Bad Old Days
Some days will include spending hours on a task only to scrap it and start again. In short, you feel as if you’ve done nothing apart from fire off a couple of emails. At home, the emotion is one of disappointment – it’s almost as if you’ve let yourself down. The reality is these days used to happen all the time in the corporate office. The difference is you never kept track because the day was busy. Even if you got nothing done, you still left the house or spoke with colleagues or attended a meeting. Remember this the next time you are depressed at not being productive to gain perspective.
Get Out
- Unfortunately, stir-craziness will take over at some point regardless of your productivity levels. It’s an occupational hazard because you will have been in the house for quite a while without leaving. After all, you had dinner and slept there the night before. So, it’s time to get out to keep everything new and fresh. Go to a restaurant for lunch and connect to the wthis HTML class. Value is take a break and work on-the-go. Or, take a cigarette break in the garden.
Just make sure you aren’t cooped up all day or else you will go insane!
