How to Work at Home and Keep Your Sanity!
© 2003 Terri Seymour
Working at home can be a blessing and/or a disaster depending
on how you are able to handle it. A home business or job is not
for all of us. I know a lot of people who much prefer to "get
out in the world" to work.
I absolutely love working at home. I did enjoy working outside
the home as well, but I am a homebody and much prefer working
at home. It does have disadvantages and problems though as well.
* Isolation - This can be a tough one to deal with for some
people. Sitting in your lonely little corner or home office hour
after hour can get you down. When you start feeling isolated and
lonely contact an online friend and chat awhile. If no one is
available, take a break and get outside. Take a walk to visit
a friend or family member. Just getting out in the fresh air can
make you feel rejuvenated and alive again. Even a phone call to
an old friend or your spouse, if possible, can do wonders.
* Self-discipline - This one can be a tuffy. Having your own
business can tend to make us lazy once in awhile. I know it does
me. ;-) What I do is go over my goals and the reasons I started
my business in the first place. I also think about all my readers/customers
who are counting on me. This helps me get back into focus and
to get motivated to go back to work. You need to train yourself
to work when it is work time because you have no boss to do it
for you.
*Schedule Keeping - Making up a schedule is easy, sticking to
it is not. I try not to have too strict of a schedule because
it probably will need to be changed now and then. Try a daily
schedule instead of a hourly one. This will make it much easier
to bend it when you need to. Not being able to follow your schedule
can be frustrating to say the least, but preparing a flexible
schedule makes it less stressful on you and everyone else.
*Family Distractions - This is one of the main reasons it is
so hard to stick to our schedules! ;-) Make time for your family
and make sure they understand that work time is for work and family
time is for them. With me, my family comes first and I arrange
my schedule around them and it works out very well.
*Lack of Respect - Although we know how important our business
is, our family or friends may not. They think we are playing around
or just doing a hobby. You need to sit them down and explain that
this is your job and it is very important to you and they need
to respect that. Be firm. They will get the message. ;-)
*Organization - Although we might be very organized, we just
might not have the space when working at home. Some people might
have a office, but some of us have work stations or corners. I
have a corner. Although, I don't have much room, I am able to
stay fairly well organized. I have a shelf, a desk and a drawer
- with a file cabinet in another room and this is all I need.
Most of the organizing is on the computer so I don't need a lot
of outside room. I print out pertinent records and file them accordingly.
I have a 4-story paper tray which holds all my "need now or soon"
papers. The shelf holds my printer, answering machine and phone.
And I also have a junk drawer ( we all need one of those)! ;-)
This works out with very few or no problems.
Although working at home does have some disadvantages, I would
not want to give it up for anything. I love the freedom of it,
the excitement of it, the pride of it, and all the wonderful people
I have met.
If you feel you are a candidate for a home business or job,
I say go for it, but I wish you much success in whichever path
you choose!
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Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish
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