Is Working From Home A Distraction?

Yes. Yes. Yes. On every level.

Would I have it any other way? No. 

Yes, I know, that seems like a bit of a contradiction in itself. 

Working from home can be an absolute nightmare if you don't give yourself, and everyone around you strict rules from the get go. 

When you work in an office, or you're PAYE, there is an etiquette that must be followed. You do your hours, you have your lunch break and even though there may be office chit chat, you tend to be left alone for the main part. You go in, you get your work done, you go home.

When you work at home, even with all the best intentions in the world, it is a different ball game. People WILL ask you why you haven't done the washing up, what's so hard about remembering to do the washing, why you couldn't be bothered to cook and YET AGAIN, have ordered a takeaway.

People WILL pop in for a coffee because "I knew you'd be in". They'll think you work to your own schedule ALL of the time because you're self-employed. You'll get moaned at, have eyes rolled at you, and sometimes even guilt tripped in to stuff.

That's just from the outside influences. They're like the mini-bosses in Mario. We haven't even got to the BIG BOSS yet.

Can you guess who or what that is?

It's YOU.

You will be your biggest distraction.

At first, you'll try to please everyone. You'll try to cram your 12 hour work load into 8 hours so you can cook the dog and clean the dinner. (Yep, things will get that confusing.) You'll try to make sure everything is clean, whilst balancing your phone to your ear talking to a client, you'll think about crawling back in to bed - A LOT. house work will play on your mind. You'll feel guilty. You'll feel like you let people down when you can't go out to lunch every Thursday, or even Saturday for that matter.

But all is not lost! You need STRICT rules that you and everyone else have to abide by. 

- If you haven't got a whole room to work from at home then you need to claim ownership to an area that is yours and only yours. If you are in that space, you are not to be disturbed. 

- Tell people what your working hours are likely to be. 

- Ask the people around you to book stuff in advance so you can join in, too. 

- Explain to people that when you are home you are not on the couch watching Netflix (most of the time) and you need to be treated like you have a "proper job". Are they able to do the cleaning from their office? No. 

- Tell yourself 'no'. No, you don't need that snack. No, you don't need to know what the neighbours are arguing about. No, you can't just not do the work! 

- Get yourself a playlist on Spotify or your favourite music platform. Being alone in the house all day can get BORING! You will need to keep yourself from going mad.

My mum and I have a calendar that we share. She puts the days she's working plus all the days she's not free. I'll then go through and add days we can do stuff together. It works well. It creates less pressure because we already know 4-6 weeks in advance what we're doing. I recommend doing this with friends, family, and your partner.

You'll get distracted by everything. BUT you can get through it. It does get easier, and you'll find ways that work for you. Stick with it. You don't need an office, you just need discipline.

Oh, and when you want to stay in bed until 10am, you totally get to do it! I usually get up early, check my emails, and if nothing is urgent, I go back to sleep. It's a great perk of working from home. 

Until Next Time,

#BeMoreHippo

Dee x