working from home?

[RainGurl]

how many of you work from home?
I'm on day.... 3 1/2 a faring well so far. I know in the past I've had problems keeping from getting distracted, or staying motivated.
Any advice??

[Direct Holly]

I will soon be working from home.... What I recommend is waking up a a reasonable hour, showering, and having your desk some where outside of the bedroom...

[RainGurl]

i have to shower???

[Lee]

Originally posted by RainGurl
i have to shower???

With a signed model release and exclusive rights to redistribute the content too

Regards,

Lee

[AusCoding Allan]

As I don't yet work full-time on my websites I work from home. It generally means that I get up early and start at my other job at 6:30 and then finish up at around 2pm and come home to work on my sites.

The way I stay focussed is by allowing short breaks (you have to be disciplined about it) of about 10mins in every hour.

P.S. It's not work if it's fun.

Allan

[Gary-Alan]

Showering not withstanding LOL

Set minimum work hours and stick to them. If you decide it's 9-5 then you HAVE to work those hours. Overtime is optional

The biggest issue I have are household distractions...

I know the laundry needs to be done, I need to vaccuum, etc. IGNORE THEM! Do them after your business hours.

Hope this helps!

My best,
Gary-Alan

[Dzinerbear]

RainGurl,

Try and get up at the same time every day.

Shower.

Get dressed. There have been many days when I never even bothered putting on pants, just sat in a t-shirt and underwear. But I feel better when I actually wear street clothes.

Try to impress upon the rest of the world that you're actually working.

And like Gary said, try to not allow yourself to be distracted by every little thing that suddenly needs your attention.

I actually started getting up at 6:30 a.m. and hitting the computer because I found I was getting so much more stuff done. When I got up at 8:30 or 9 a.m., the days just seem to get away from me.

If you are a work-a-holic, try to stop working a couple of hours before you want to go to bed. It'll give you some time to come down off the work high and actually start to feel tired.

And finally, try and minimize the amount of time you spend doing e-mail and hanging out in places like this (unless it's really work) otherwise you can fool yourself into thinking you're actually "woring" when all you're really doing in chatting. Networking and chatting is a necessary part of our jobs, but you need to set limits.

Good luck
Dzinerbear

[desslock]

Rainey:

I work at home all day. I just run my websites full time now from my lil' apartment. Yes, you can get lots of work done just wearing some Calvins.

For me, one of the best things was to get the television out of my room with the computer. My productivity has improved ten-fold. I listen to gaydarradio on the net, or our local classical station on the radio.

It's all about discipline. For me it took awhile, but you can do it. There are downsides --- it's kind of isolating being around nobody all day. That bothers me, but I try to go down to a socializing nexus when possible.

good luck,

Steve

[BDBionic]

So long as we're on the subject, anyone have any advice on how I can actually get some work done while at the office?

[AusCoding Allan]

maybe you should try working from home :p

[Chris Alan]

I find breaking up the day with a round of golf works well for me.:grin:

[Lee]

Originally posted by Chris Alan
I find breaking up the day with a round of golf works well for me.:grin:

Uh huh...

Regards,

Lee

[Fister]

Good thread, RainGurl...lots of good advice here. I would also add something general. If you are self-employed, have a business plan, be aware of return on investment (including time investment), measure the conversions to sales of your work. And for everyone, set priorities.

[RainGurl]

thanks for the great advice!
Seems a lot of us work from home. it has it's benefits as well as disadvantages. Seems the common theme in advice is discipline: setting working hours and sticking to them.
I've set up my office, managed to get "to work" by 7 a.m. and stay there. Luckily, my girlfriend is being very supportive about realizing that I am working and not just at home.

[Dzinerbear]

"Luckily, my girlfriend is being very supportive about realizing that I am working and not just at home."

Yeah ... just wait. Somehow, although it may never be said, there's this little perception that starts to creep in that while I'm at home all day working, I could also be keeping the house clean, doing the laundry, cleaning the kitty litter, doing the shopping, etc.

And even with myself, I must continually re-assert boundaries: "no, this is time to work on a site, not to do laundry and work on a site."

You'll figure it out.
Dzinerbear