After the best part of six years, I’ve moved out of my home-office at the end of my garden, to share an office with the very lovely Fivefootsix.
As a result, I feel qualified to share what I’ve learned about working from home – its advantages and disadvantages. So if you currently work from home or you’re toying with the idea of jacking in the day job to base yourself somewhere close to where you shit, shower, shave, sleep and eat breakfast, allow me to share.
1. If you can’t motivate yourself don’t bother
Getting up everyday and doing the five-step commute sounds attractive, but having no one looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re actually accomplishing anything needs motivational nerves of steel. I’ve ended up with a few techniques to help me. For instance, I’ve become a real fan of the Pomodoro technique. It’s amazing what Pavlovian magic the sound of a ticking clock can conjure to your sense of urgency.
2. If you think it will improve your work-life balance, forget it
I used to joke about working in my “Fela Suit” (it’s a three piece, but not the Moss Bros type. Like Fela Kuti’s, it consists of just two sandals and a pair of underpants). There’s been many a night when I’ve snuck out of bed to take a call/rewrite a paper/chase an invoice. One thing I didn’t try, that maybe I should have, was giving my office keys to my wife. Having a loved one acting as a caretaker might have helped me take better care of the corrosive effects of letting work and life blur into one sleepy, stressy, mess.
3. The flexibility takes some beating
Of course, it’s not all bad. Being able to take an hour out of my day for an impromptu dance class with my daughter, or have lunch with my lovely better half is amazing. That’s what we all dream of when we fantasise about working from home. And sometimes it happens.
4. It can be done. Cheaply and easily
And here’s some more good news. One of the best things about working from home is that it’s very, very cheap. My home office is custom made by some guys from Canning Town (I don’t know how I found out, but I learned that Canning Town’s the shed-building capital of London. I just drove down, found some guys and told them what I wanted). It’s heated, fully insulated, has its own electricity supply, broadband internet and wifi. And the whole thing cost little over £3,000. Added to that, doing away with any travel budget (especially here in London) saves thousands. Not to mention the time you can spend working and earning when you would have been travelling. For financial reasons, there’s a lot to commend working from home.
5. Make time to see others, or you’ll go mad
One of the biggest threats I found working from home was my own company. Don’t get me wrong, I like myself. But left alone, with just the same rogues gallery of mental characters riffing amongst themselves can get a little mindbending. Even if you work from home, get out. Often.
6. Beware the distractions
The distractions I’m talking about aren’t just YouTube, Twitter and other computer time vampires. With no one to watch you, it’s easy for breakfast to take an extra half hour, or for an “urgent” little something that needs to be fixed at home to cane a whole afternoon. It might sound nice, but you’ll only need to pay this lost time back (I refer you to the nocturnal Fela Suit above). If you work from home you need to be super-disciplined, and communicate this discipline to your family and housemates.
7. Involve everyone
My four and a half year old daughter was born with me working from home. I have a collection of “Photo Booth” pictures and videos that I now realise is a wonderful archive of my years working from home, charting my little girl growing up, learning to talk, play and lark about. My daughter knows that when daddy’s at work, he’s not to be disturbed (although, if I’m honest, she views this is more of a challenge than a rule). My wife does her damnedest to help me enforce this rule.
8. Write some rules
If you’re finding it difficult to create an adequate split between work and home life, or you’re finding it hard to maintain motivation day after day, create some rules. Here are some I’ve tried (and they may even resonate with you if you work from an office):
a. No connected device between 8pm and 8am
b. Take a lunch break, away from my desk every day.
c. Do an hour at the start of the day without your computer on.
d. No food until lunchtime.
e. Take a tea break at 4.
9. Break some rules
What’s the point of being your own boss if your boss treats you like dirt? If you work from home, you don’t need to throw a sickie. Just give yourself permission to take a day off. Go to the zoo. Go to the library. Go fishing. Not all the time, but every so often. You’ll be more creative for it.
10. You’ll know when it’s over
Some, like George Bernard Shaw and Roald Dahl, can spend an entire career working from an office in the garden. I can’t. I grew to yearn for the chance to share my enthusiasms with smart, clever, funny people around me. If you know me, you know I’m deeply social. In my shed, I got lonely.
So, I’m really looking forward to working from Fivefootsix. A lovely little company, that’s just the right size (yes, Algy, I’ll be putting that strapline in the pot!) and both here and on Twitter, I’ll keep you posted as to how I’m adapting to being out of my shed.
If you work from home, or you’re thinking of working from home, I’d love to hear from you.
The post Out of my shed (10 rules for home workers, learned the hard way) appeared first on amissingham.com.