We all have those moments where the idea of waking up early in the morning and going to the office seems like a struggle that you just don’t want to have to deal with. You don’t want to sit around in traffic for long stretches of time only to spend your day in a stuffy, poorly-lit office where you end up feeling tired with a searing headache.
It’s enough to make even the most enjoyable job in the world a deeply unpleasant experience for the vast majority of people, no matter how much they love the work that they’re doing. However, a lot of people have started to discover a new way to solve this problem: take the office out of the equation. That’s right, working from home. This is something that plenty of people would dearly love to be able to do any actually seems to be becoming more, and more of a viable option since the internet has created a world when both freelance work and remote employment are more viable than they’ve ever been before.
Of course, if working from home was always easy then everyone would be doing it right? In reality, there are a fair few drawbacks to working from home that far too many people ignore, leading them to struggle pretty quickly and often just go back to more traditional ways of working. However, that doesn’t need to be the case. If you feel as though working from home might be right for you, here are a few things for you to consider.
Be disciplined with your time
If you’re working from home, whether you’re freelance, self-employed, or just working remotely, the first thing that you discover is the joy of not having to wake up and commute first thing in the morning. There’s no denying that this is an incredibly pleasant experience. However, far too many people get incredibly carried away with this. Sure, it’s nice to be able to wake up at noon and do all of your work in your pajamas, but eventually, your sleep schedule is going to start to suffer, and you’re going to end up feeling tired and stressed out. Remember, just because you’re waking up later doesn’t mean that your work day is shortened. All that it means is that you’re going to need to work later in the day in order to get everything done. This can be especially difficult if you’re working remotely. If you still need to get your work done by the end of office hours, waking up late can leave you feeling incredibly stressed and rushing your work. Most people who work from home eventually find that the novelty of getting up late wears of pretty quickly and they decide to start setting themselves dedicated working hours in order to be more productive during the day.
Set up a dedicated workspace
As with waking up late, a lot of people who start working from home find a lot of novelty in working from their beds, at least in the early days. And sure, being able to work without ever leaving the comfort of your bed can be an enjoyable situation, for a little while. However, most people find that this is far less enjoyable as time goes on. For one thing, it’s incredibly difficult to stay motivated when you’re in bed or on the couch. This is because you often have a lot more things there to distract you than you would normally have if you were in an office. Not only that but working from your bed or couch can actually start to have a pretty significant effect on your physical health. If you’re sitting in front of a computer all day, then you’re probably going to end up feeling pretty stiff and sore unless you’re getting the right support. Trying to find the best computer chair for your needs isn’t always easy, but it’s definitely worth the investment if you want to avoid doing some pretty significant damage to your spine. Not only will having a dedicated place to work keep you focussed but it will help to eliminate the possibility of actually doing yourself some damage that could result from sitting slumped on the couch all day.
Stay in communication
One of the things that makes a lot of employers or clients feel nervous about working with someone who is remote is that they can’t keep a close eye on them. If someone is in an office, then you just need to walk over to their desk and communicate with them directly. However, that’s not always possible when you’re working from home. The best way around this is to stay in communication with your employer or client as much as possible. Keep them updated on how much work you’re getting done and let them know what it is that you’re currently working on. When you’re working from home your work is your responsibility and no one else’s. This means that you need to start thinking more in terms of being your own boss. Sure you don’t have someone else breathing down your neck all day long, but that doesn’t mean that you’re free from having to put in the necessary amount of work or can get away with spending all day doing nothing. If you do that, then you’re just going to show your employer that you can’t be trusted. This could result in you being unable to work from home anymore or you could even be let go from the business entirely. The same goes for freelancers. If you start to get a reputation as someone who can’t be relied on, then you’re simply not going to get any work.
Hopefully, this makes it clear that while working from home might be incredibly tempting; it’s not exactly the paid holiday that a lot of people seem to think it is, it’s still work after all. However, it’s also definitely true that if you’re willing to work around the challenges that it presents, you could well find yourself rediscovering the love of your career once you no longer have to deal with the issues that often come with having to get up to go to the office every single day.