If you are like me, then you love working from home and do the balancing act every day to meet your deadlines.
Sometimes it makes you go crazy.
Though it’s something I would not give up for anything else in the world, working from home does have its challenges.
You cannot jump into this thinking, it’s an easy task.
It is not.
When I first started working from home, it seemed very exciting and very convenient.
By the end of the first month, I realized that if I didn’t keep things in order or organize my time, it would be hard for me to stick with the projects and deliver results on time.
I was so bad with my time management that I almost lost my job.
For me, and maybe for most of you the biggest challenges are
- Distractions
- Time Management
- Work-Life Balance
- Motivation
- Commitment
All of these are very simple things that might not affect you much if you are at a traditional workplace. But believe me, a person working from home can relate to these challenges.
I eventually got better with all of these issues, and now I make the most of the work-from-home experience. It makes me truly happy.
So let’s see what worked for me and how you can tackle these challenges.
Distractions, What Distractions?
OK, you’re just about to start working from home and have no idea what could be distracting.
Well, distractions can be anything from family around you to your phone ringing.
I would define it as something that diverts your mind from your work and makes it so that you cannot concentrate. I am not a person who gets distracted easily, but some distractions did get to me early on.
What worked for me was having a dedicated work space that limited distractions from the outside world.
I know that some people might not be able to do this, but blocking the outside world does help. This takes some time for newbies to develop as a skill.
When you love what you are doing, you just get engrossed and absorbed in it so much that distractions don’t deter you from doing what you do.
Related:
- Top 5 Time Management Skills You Need to Work from Home
- 6 Best Tools to Boost Your Productivity
- Work-from-Home Q&A: How to Start Working from Home
Time Management
I think managing your time, whether it is at work or home, is an art.
It is hard to master this skill, but if you do, then you would be surprised by what you can achieve.
It is easy to be pulled into doing some home chores or become lazy and procrastinate on working.
All that will eventually show in your job. As I said earlier, I was awful with my time but had to learn quickly because I didn’t want to lose the opportunity of working from home.
The tip that made me good with my time management was having a log or a to-do list. It would list the work that I had to finish that day.
I would even sit up until 2 a.m sometimes to complete my day’s work. I never felt overworked working so late. Instead, it felt so good as I accomplished my goals for that day.
The key point here is to be accountable. We work better when we are accountable to somebody or our set deadlines.
Work-Life Balance
You need to drop your kid to school and have to attend a webinar or meeting online; both at the same time.
I know the feeling.
The biggest plus of working from home is the work-life balance. You get to be around your family, spend both the small and big moments with them, and still be able to work.
Well, if you were working in an office, you would be missing some of these moments.
This plus can be challenging sometimes because work and family priorities might fall around the same time, and you will have to choose.
And because you are around your family, the emotional part also kicks in.
I had a hard time with this, but later I scheduled my work routine around my family engagements. I always work most when the kids go to sleep or before they wake up.
During the day, I mostly do minimal work. This arrangement works for me best as it’s quieter when the kids are sleeping and I can be more productive.
Motivation
This could be the biggest reason people have doubts about working from home.
Motivation is something you need to have to do any job. If you are not motivated, whatever you do will not give good results.
Working from home can be good for lots of reasons, but it can fall short of motivating you to get to work.
In an office environment, your colleagues, the workspace, your friends, the corporate setup, or maybe just going out and working might motivate you.
But at home, you will need a lot of self-motivation.
It’s not impossible, but you need to train yourself to get motivated by yourself. You can master this skill slowly.
I know quite a good number of people who work from home and are highly motivated. Maybe the results from your job or a simple inspirational quote or an idea for your project might do the trick.
If you still have trouble getting motivated, read up on the big guys who work from home and make a killing. That surely is going to motivate you.
Commitment
You might think you are committed to your work, so what difference does the location of your workplace make?
It does make a difference.
When working at an office, the commitment toward work is driven by many factors like company’s performance, pressure from your manager, etc.
But when working from home, none of those factors are present, and you might lose the interest to perform or deliver on time.
There are many ways to push yourself to feel more committed when working from home, but the biggest and the most important question should be…
Do you love what you are doing?
If you do, then that just means you are committed and will find a way to work religiously to meet the deadlines—no matter how many distractions you have.
Apart from these, you have many tools to automate and organize your routine and make the whole remote work thing a breeze.
I had my share of difficulties managing working from home, but eventually it all worked out. And, if you are starting out now, it will work out for you as well.
So, keep rocking!!!
What were your challenges with your job? Which one has more challenges: an outside job or working from home?
