Thursday, September 23, 2010

Working from home

It's everyone's dream, right? Be your own boss, work when you feel like it, play whatever music you like as loud as you like..

When my old work asked me if I'd like to do some editing work for them and I didn't have to come in - I could Work From Home - of course I jumped at the chance. I could save money and psycological damage by avoiding the commute to work, and I had visions of sitting in a cosy cafe hunched over my laptop.

Alas, I don't think I'm cut out for working from home.
At home, there is no-one there to look at me disapprovingly if I turn up at my desk well after 9am. There's no-one to raise an eyebrow after I leave for my tenth cup of tea and perusal of the fridge. And there's no-one to tut-tut if I spend two hours on lunch, or get distracted by email, by (ahem) blogger, or even, perversly, if I start doing my homework instead (when homework becomes a procrastination tool, I know I'm in trouble).

In short, I am the least self-disciplined of people and I make a terrible boss.
On the up side, I've made quite some headway with my novel...



Any tips for working from home would be most welcome.

8 comments:

  1. LOL!!! I only worked from home twice and like it wasn't so much fun really. I had TONS to do and it wasn't like I could set my own time either, I kept getting harassed - er - contacted by the boss. So much that I was too scared to leave my pc and everytime the phone rang, I jumped! But!!!!!

    Lunch was a home cooked meal and I had tea breaks with the kitty! LOL!

    Yay for your novel!!

    Take care
    x

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  2. Ugh, giving your boss a valid reason to be ringing you at home is another drawback! But I like the sound of tea breaks with the kitty!

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  3. Great that your novel is coming along.

    My tip for working from home would be to turn the internet off. I actually have to physically unplug the box from the wall because just powering it off isn't enough. If you need to use the internet for work, do as much as possible with the internet off and only turn it on again when you can go no further.

    I also sometimes 'work from home' in the library. Luckily there's one just across the street. Make sure you eat before you go and then only allow yourself to leave when you are too hungry to carry on working.

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  4. I love working from home! Make yourself some rules -- like -- only enter the kitchen three times during the day -- mid-morning for tea, lunch, and afternoon snack. Make a list of must-dos for the day. Turn off blogger, twitter, facebook...

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  5. I like Helen's idea, and Colette has a good point about rules. A schedule helps, with time for stuff you like to do (blog) once the stuff you have to do is finished.

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  6. Some useful tips so far! Hmm, seems like the consensus is lose/restrict the internet. I might try a schedule too, and working from home in the library sounds good - less distractions. Thanks everyone!

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  7. So funny! It's hard to stay disciplined when you're home alone. So many distractions! :)

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