There are positives and negatives to working from home. I remember when I brought my office home for the first time. It was both a blessing and a curse.
I wasted less time commuting. I could literally get up and just start working. I also found that I could get a great amount of work done without the distractions of officemates. This helped me be more productive. I did find it difficult to think creatively sometimes in the home office environment though; but the biggest challenge was “Clocking Out.”
The office commute was literally down the hall so I could easily go make a change to something. I would stretch to do just one more thing that would invariably have me stuck to the computer for a few more hours. I would also get the sudden urge to create which would put me back in the office for hours into the night.
All of this put a huge weight on my relationships, health and even mentality. I learned very quickly that I had to disconnect from Work Mode sooner rather than later. That would require me to “Clock Out” which is definitely easier said than done.
My first step was to plan a schedule that would work with my firm’s print deadlines. Monday and Tuesday kept me late and Wednesday at noon was the cutoff. So I scheduled myself longer days at the beginning of the week and an early morning on Wednesday for the final push to press. Then I could ease my way into Thursday and Friday. That meant I could also do more web development and of course administrative work at the end of the week. This set my expectations for my entire workday, training regimen and of course the people in my life.
Now more than ever it is important to have a schedule. We are all home and struggling with excepting our “new norm;” but we also must understand that, “There is comfort in knowing that everything is temporary.” This too shall pass.
That being said, the best way to start your day is to “Clock Out.” Doing this and detaching from work can be a challenge; but it is one extremely important lesson that I learned from all my years of working at home. Schedule yourself this time and you will set your expectations for everyone and everything in your life. It will help you prioritize your workday as well as allow you to start your training, have family time or whatever you have planned for your evening. When you assign yourself this hard stop you will improve your ability to transition from each Mindset. You will feel happier and most importantly you will find yourself crushing far more goals.
Give yourself a hard stop. Finish work for today. Crush more goals. Be happy.
#FightTheGoodFight
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