How to Work from Home Without Going Crazy

by jayhathaway on November 11, 2009

Working from home is both a blessing and a curse. Certainly, it tends to offer a lot more freedom than working in an office environment but, as Spider-Man will tell you, with great power comes great responsibility. Without coworkers around — unless you invite some over, as Amanda Lee suggested in an earlier post on Task Blog — you’re in charge of keeping yourself organized and on task, even though nobody’s looking.

Here are some of the best ways I’ve found to stay on task and still enjoy all the benefits of not having to go into the office:

Keep Your Bed and Your Desk In Separate Rooms

This one’s not always possible in a smaller apartment, but separating your bedroom and your workspace is a good way to acknowledge the immensely powerful distraction of a comfy bed. I’ve had to train myself to avoid “just lying in bed for a few minutes” and waking up 4 or 5 hours later with no work done. Keeping the bed out of sight and out of mind helps a lot.

Close The Door

If at all possible, work in a room with a door you can close. The psychological impact of closing the door to indicate you’re working can’t be overestimated. If you live with kids, pets, roommates or a significant other, it also lets them know you’re working and and eliminates distractions. I’m borrowing this one from Stephen King’s excellent book On Writing, which contains plenty of good general advice that applies outside of being a writer.

Have a Regular Routine

One of the best parts of working from home is that you don’t have to keep a schedule. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, though, it just means you should keep one that works for you. It doesn’t have to be eight hours, but you should be consistent about what’s work time and what’s not. If you don’t make any rules, you’ll be much more likely to blow off work whenever you don’t feel like doing it.

Eat Something

Make sure meals are part of your routine. If you don’t know when you’re eating, you’ll be likely to knock off work at any time to get takeout or fix yourself a snack. I’m as guilty of this as the next guy, but I find that eating breakfast in the morning helps set the pace for the day. If you can start the day with a few hours of feeling full, you’ll reduce the temptation to quit early and have lunch. You should definitely eat when you’re hungry, but eating breakfast will keep you from being hungry when you’re trying to build up some momentum in the morning.

Because I work from home and struggle with a lot of this stuff myself, I’m sure I’ll write more on this subject in the future. I’d be interested to hear what good advice you have for being productive away from the office, so please leave me a note in the comments.

Jay is a freelance writer based in Seattle, WA. He writes about software for Download Squad and contributes interviews to Geek Monthly magazine, among others. You can also find him on Twitter and at his blog.

Photo Credit — bs