People are constantly arguing about where it is better to work — in the office or at home. For example, people of Soviet training believe that you need to go to work ... literally, since many of them did not work at work, but went there to have experience. That is, if you work at home or periodically go to meetings or to a coworking center, you don't work at all, you're messing around!
Someone thinks that working at home is not prestigious, and the office provides all the necessary benefits. In the end, there are people who need a team and a good kick from a superior friend for productive work, otherwise there is no way. Especially attractive in office work are free cookies, attending interesting conferences at the expense of the company, corporate parties and periodic team building! Annual bonuses are especially pleasing.
Those who are already fed up with office cookies, decide to break away from the pack and start an independent flight. On the one hand, such freelancing allows you to freely manage your time, determine the hours and days of work yourself, choose your customers, travel, etc., etc. But in order for all this to work out, you need patience, a little practice and a few tricks to always stay in shape.
A day at a standard job is more or less predicted. You know that on Monday you will discuss the weekend with employees (who visited where), go out for a smoke break a couple of times, drink 3-4 cups of coffee, go to one meeting, etc. Your working day is more or less predicted with all these breaks for chatter and coffee.
When you start working from home, you start thinking something like: "Aha! Now I will manage my own time, work for the first four hours and then I will be free as a bird!». But such a picture is the fruit of your imagination intoxicated with the sweet air of freedom. Because in fact, everything will be completely different, even if you managed to get closer to the desired schedule for the first few days.
When you work in an office, you don't have the opportunity to view all the funny videos on YouTube, reread all the jokes, funny stories or news. At home, you relax and start to get distracted by little things that eventually accumulate in hours. As a result, an imaginary four-hour day turns into ten or even twelve hours. You can't even imagine how many distractions there can be in working at home!
In the presence of a crystal chandelier, procrastination becomes especially convenient and justified.
Another problem is your inability to focus on the case for more than twenty to thirty minutes. In order to work for at least an hour without being distracted by external stimuli, you need training. This is especially difficult for those who have worked in the office for quite a long time, since the office itself is one big distraction there.
There are many different techniques and systems for concentrating attention and building your work. For example, Pomodoro technique, Swiss cheese method, rule «3 + 2» and many more different techniques, among which everyone will find something suitable.
Sometimes there are not very good days for work, when you do not have time for anything, everything falls out of hand, and the same task has to be redone three times. When working in the office on such a day, at least you still have a sense of accomplishment. You came to work, attended several meetings, drank a cup of coffee and even, perhaps, did at least a small part of the work.
When you work from home, the situation turns out to be much more complicated. On days when we lose our bearings, not very pleasant thoughts are spinning in my head: what am I doing?!», «for what?», «for whom?» «and in general, why all this?», «I do stupid things, but others!»… The latter is especially dangerous, since immediately a parade of all the listed office bonuses begins in my head in the form of a career, trips, approval of colleagues and annual bonuses.
It is especially difficult during the period of hormonal surges for girls, when everyone around them seems to be cloven-hoofed, who seem to have conspired and are deliberately driven to hysteria, absolutely not wanting to understand our subtle mental organizational structure. Men, by the way, also have «critical days » emotionally, so the main thing is to keep yourself in hand.
In such a state, the most important thing is not to give in to a bad mood, gather yourself together and remember a few days during which you managed to do so much that would be enough for a week. Review the charts with growth peaks, read grateful letters from customers, praise yourself more and more often, since there are no office sycophants or companions in misfortune nearby. Some, after such outbursts, succumb to the impulses of the soul and return to work in the office. When the crisis passes, they are pulled out again. That's how they live.
You will be surprised how much you may miss interacting with people around you, even if you were not a very sociable person before, and getting rid of annoying office chatter was the highest good for you. This is especially acute if you work at home for a long time. And thoughts during an office meeting in the style of «What am I doing here? Why am I sitting here when I can do this and that?!» will visit you at home. More precisely, when working from home, such thoughts are the biggest temptation!
I work from home, so I can go out for a walk anytime!
I work from home, so I can go grab a bite right now!
I work from home, so I can go out for a bike ride right now!
I work from home, so I can read a magazine (listen to a podcast, watch a video) whenever I want!
Especially such thoughts are aggravated in spring and summer. But working in the office, you can only think about it, let a stingy tear and go back to work again, since dismissal due to playing on the computer can be quite real. So you pile yourself up and keep working.
At home, you can give yourself free rein and lose control. This may happen unnoticed by you, but for others your changes will be shocking: you stop watching your appearance, the house is a mess, you don't keep up with the promised deadlines, day and night are confused, and time has merged into a single stream, which is interrupted by rare sleep and snacks right at the computer.
If you notice that after meeting a former colleague, you chatted with him for 20 minutes longer than usual, you have become too active on Twitter and social networks and constantly send stupid videos to your friends if you switched to watching TV instead of listening to music. If you notice at least one of the signs, immediately put on your pants and go to the nearest cafe, get some air and have a cup of coffee!
Don't let your home life consume you! A periodic shake can be very useful. If you can't keep track of your mood swings on your own, give c.u. to your friends or family. Something like: «If I send you a video starring me in family underpants, if my dog has learned to relieve himself in the toilet, if I have a mustache and beard, etc. — take me out for a walk or a cup of coffee, even if I resist.»
If you don't have children, then it may be other people close to you. But usually the most severe remorse is experienced by very busy parents. I'm not going to talk about the fact that children are growing up and every moment is unique, that we won't be around when the child takes his first step or says the first word — it's already known to everyone. And for those who do not have children yet, this will become clear only if their own heirs appear, and reading such theses is only annoying.
Yes, at first it will be quite difficult for you to get used to the noise, laughter, fuss and the demand for constant attention on your part. But even very young children are quite understanding and can give you enough time to finish the work. In particularly difficult situations, heavy artillery is called in the form of grandmothers, uncles, aunts or nannies. But in return you will get a lot of positivity and love from your little fidgets.
Working at home reduces informal communication to a minimum and this can help you become more organized. For example, you can create a list of necessary documents or actions that you must adhere to in your work in order to be always on the alert and fully armed.
It can be:
A to-do list that you can share if necessary.
The general plan for the day, which you can re-read at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the working day.
A plan for the week of what you are going to do and what you have managed to do over the past week.
A plan for meeting with clients.
There are both pros and cons to working at home. For someone, such a style of work does not suit at all, and he leaves to work in the office again without a drop of regret. But if you've tried it and you liked it, take the best out of it! Try, experiment, travel — everything is in your hands!
If you think about it, we are very lucky, because in the modern world we can be anyone. We do not have a caste system in which you will become rich only in the next incarnation, we are not serfs or slaves when the only way to freedom lies through death. Enjoy the fact that you were born in a free world and can choose where you work, how much and with whom ;)
