How Important is Time Management When Working at Home?
When you work at home, you don't the automatic time delineations that you do when you work in an office.
When you work in office,it's generally very obvious when the day begins.
It's when you come in, sit down at your desk, fire up your computer, get your coffee, read your e-mails, etc.
it's a very obvious and clear start to the day, and it usually puts you in the mindset of being at work, and existing in that world for the next 8 to 10 hours.
It is also very obvious, in an office, when the day ends.
You probably have a daily regimen that you go through when you end your workday, that is almost as religious as the one you go through when you begin it.
Power down your computer, rinse out your coffee cup, put your files away in the drawer, put on your coat, go out to your car, drive home, etc.
However, when you work at home, those lines are not as clearly drawn.
In fact they are not clearly drawn at all.
In fact, in many cases, not only are they not clearly drawn, they are not drawn.
For instance, does your workday begins the instant you get out of bed? Or does it begin after you've worked out and take a shower? Or maybe, it begins after you take your kids to school and come home to empty house.
It's all up to you, which is one of the wonderful gifts and benefits of working at home -- having that control.
However, with control also comes a certain muddying of the waters.
For instance, as difficult as it is to decide when the day officially begins for your work, it's even more difficult for most work at home people to figure out when the day ends! Once you start working, it can be quite difficult to stop.
However, one of the things that you really need to be disciplined to do when you work at home is to develop a strong work life balance.
If you don't discipline yourself to have a delineated beginning of your workday and end of your workday and stick to that schedule, you will soon find yourself one burned out work from homer.
When you work in office,it's generally very obvious when the day begins.
It's when you come in, sit down at your desk, fire up your computer, get your coffee, read your e-mails, etc.
it's a very obvious and clear start to the day, and it usually puts you in the mindset of being at work, and existing in that world for the next 8 to 10 hours.
It is also very obvious, in an office, when the day ends.
You probably have a daily regimen that you go through when you end your workday, that is almost as religious as the one you go through when you begin it.
Power down your computer, rinse out your coffee cup, put your files away in the drawer, put on your coat, go out to your car, drive home, etc.
However, when you work at home, those lines are not as clearly drawn.
In fact they are not clearly drawn at all.
In fact, in many cases, not only are they not clearly drawn, they are not drawn.
For instance, does your workday begins the instant you get out of bed? Or does it begin after you've worked out and take a shower? Or maybe, it begins after you take your kids to school and come home to empty house.
It's all up to you, which is one of the wonderful gifts and benefits of working at home -- having that control.
However, with control also comes a certain muddying of the waters.
For instance, as difficult as it is to decide when the day officially begins for your work, it's even more difficult for most work at home people to figure out when the day ends! Once you start working, it can be quite difficult to stop.
However, one of the things that you really need to be disciplined to do when you work at home is to develop a strong work life balance.
If you don't discipline yourself to have a delineated beginning of your workday and end of your workday and stick to that schedule, you will soon find yourself one burned out work from homer.