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Recently self-employed and this week I've had most days at home designing, preparing quotes, catching up on paperwork etc.
Well, I say I've been doing that, but I keep eating crisps and drinking tea, then that makes me need a wazz about a hundred times, then I keep looking on here or having a quick lie down.
How'd you get anything done?
See, here I am starting a pointless thread on the internet when I'm supposed to be drawing a cupboard and also a kitchen.
I find it easy to work for hours and get loads done in a workshop or on site. At home, it's soooo hard 🙂
Waits for the inevitable Youtube link....
I've been working at home for 10 years.
Social Media helps break it up.
Use a timer "I'll do X for 10 minutes" - it's easy to distract yourself and the focus helps. Do ten minutes, faff, another 10 work minutes etc. It's surprisingly hard to start with!
Someone will be along in a mo with the Mitchell and Webb ****ing sketch.
Go on a piece rate.
The knowledge that if I don't do the work then I'll get fired/won't get paid does it for me!
I wouldn’t stress it too much, I’m supposed to be building my extension and really need to be getting the roof sealed up. Instead of nailing roofing batten on I’m currently replying to you. Whilst drinking coffee. As I’m supposed to be outside in full view of my neighbours I am currently wearing pants however....
Oh, OK then..
Lolz... 🙂
I work from home most of the time. I tell my colleagues that I have a strict 45mins working then 5-10mins off doing something else.
What actually happens is.... Hold on, just going out for a quick run
See, here I am starting a pointless thread on the internet when I’m supposed to be drawing a cupboard and also a kitchen.
Whats the deadline?
to quote Simon Munnery
"without a deadline I do nothing
with a deadline I still do nothing
until the deadline is upon me
then I begin work
on my excuses"
Make a list.
Do the List.
Ignore STW.
Don't slide into doing 'extra jobs' for the house/family just because they know you are there.
Oh,and 🙂 at scotroutes
Try commuting to work. As in, get out of bed, have breakfast, go for a ride of about an hour, get back home and then shower, change and go to your desk / home office.
It actually puts you in the right mindset rather than aimlessly wandering the house in your dressing gown procrastinating.
Helps if you can leave the house briefly for lunch as well.
Log on early, fire some e-mails across, make it look like I'm on top of things.
Run/turbo then breakfast and coffee.
2 hour slot allocated to work...which will likely involve maybe 1 hour of actual work.
Lunch, 2 hours, likely including some "me time"...
Another 2 hour work slot with similar results to the above.
Housework or a nap.
Send last e-mails well outside of office hours.
Easy.
On the rare occasions I get to work from home, I get loads more work done than I would if stuck in the constantly distracting environment of an open plan office or even worse, the nonstop traffic and questions you get if you’re working in a portacabin on a building site.
*currently in a portacabin on a building site on the sea front looking at boats, handing out fixings to renderers and informing six different people in last 15 minutes of the current whereabouts of the site manager
Love your use of the word "wazz". When I was growing up that was slang for a bit of self-pleasure rather than a having a piss. For home working, my interpretation is probably more relevant too.
Separate workspace, todo lists really help.
Sounds like motivation is as much of a problem as anything, perhaps put something up that helps motivate you. poster of a new bike, or reminder of how much you owe the bank 😉
I've been working from home for the last three years, and it is initially disorientating - two bits of advice - have a dedicated workspace that you can walk away from i.e not the kitchen table. Second - don't try and work to 'traditional' work hours unless you have to. I do a few solid hours of work once the kids have gone to school, but after that I take the dogs for a walk, do some household jobs, shopping, and another solid stint from say 4pm onwards (when the US get going). Bottom line - its your time, use it as you feel fit, not office hours.
I find it easy to work for hours and get loads done in a workshop or on site. At home, it’s soooo hard
Your comparing two very different kinds of work though - 'doing' and 'thinking'. The latter happens in a very different way and ideas about how a cupboard or kitchen needs to be designed or resolved don't really happen just by lunging straight at the paper with a pencil. Ideas don't come, or improve, or resolve themselves just because you have them at the front of you mind and you've set yourself 5 ideas to have before lunch. Sometimes you just need to have something in mind for a while (for me all a 'to do' list is doing is stopping things being pushed out of my thoughts entirely) - then solutions and ideas suddenly appear in a flash. When that flash happens thats when you put in the graft.
Unfortunately for me - 8 times out of 10 that little zap of inspiration tends to happen at about 11pm when I'm in the bath. I have to shout them through the door to my girlfriend to note them down before I forget them and then I usually end up working through the night as a result 🙂
I did a training course from home and there was a spider on the ceiling. It poked itself through a little hole where there used to be an aerial cable. During a particularly boring day, I sat there making little missiles out of paper and things and tried to hit the spider. For hours. Missed every time.
Fasthaggis +1
Make a list the night before, include even the quick 5 minute jobs, then mark them off as you go - I get far more done this way. Plus if you start early, you can get a run/ride in or finish early.
When I was growing up that was slang for a bit of self-pleasure
+1
Did have to read it twice, as we're talking about wazzing from home.
Currently on enforced working from home on account of not being able to get to office thanks to knackered (but still intact) foot, 2months and counting.
Things I like:
Not having to get up at 6am
Not having a 1.5-2 hour morning commute
Finishing at 530 and being at home, not about to start the same journey as above in reverse
Comfy place to sit for lunch.
saving £300+ a month not commuting/buying lunch
Things I dislike:
Not speaking to anyone all day.
The feeling that I can’t really take a break like I would at work, chatting in the kitchen, going to fetch stuff etc. As folk seem to ask questions if I don’t respond to emails quickly.
Feeling disconnected from day to day stuff at work.
Really not looking forward to going back in to the office tbh
I've been working from home for just over a year. Unfortunately, so has my husband.
It sounds like you're doing fine.
Make a list the night before, include even the quick 5 minute jobs, then mark them off as you go – I get far more done this way.
I used to do this at university. Admittedly I had lectures and lab work in and around it all so it wasn't pure working from home but certainly doing reports, writing up notes and then planning in stuff like shopping, gym, library trips (this being the days when one had to visit the library to access The Internet...)
Try commuting to work. As in, get out of bed, have breakfast, go for a ride of about an hour, get back home and then shower, change and go to your desk / home office.
This is a good way to go about it and you can swap a run for a ride if the weather's rubbish 🙂 It sets your day up nicely.
If Its any consolation . Im in the office today and struggling to be productive
I don't have this problem (i do more work from home than in the office) but the people i know that do get sidetracked use co-working spaces 😀
I usually end up watching Netflix so 99% of the time now I go into the office...
Done it now for a couple years. No commuting, yay. Swimming pool and gym next door. I actually do more from home. Have to shut the office door at day end - so I can forget that my home is my office. Might be easier for those with a treehouse.
When I did it for 6 months or so
5.00 at computer working
8.00 Send emails
8.10 Go for a ride
11.00 see if anyone replied to emails
12.00 Go for a walk/lunch
13.00 see if anyone replied to emails and reply back
13.20 Do some foreigners
14.00 Finish for the day
Occasional site meetings
It was my perfect life
Been doing it for a couple of years and haven't yet found a solution that works all the time. But a few things have helped. Knowing the night before what I need to get done today is weirdly useful, helps keep me on track. And occasionally going out to a cafe for a couple of hours is good - it's harder to procrastinate surrounded by people and little to no wifi
#metoo
Don’t slide into doing ‘extra jobs’ for the house/family just because they know you are there.
+1, my OH couldn't get her head around the fact that just because she was bored at work so those 8 hours felt like "all day" that actually 8 hours isn't much time at all and that no I can't drive to her mums house to water the plants in my "lunch break" any more than she can!
"but you've been at home all day"!"
"yes, that means you've driven past those plants and the supermarket twice! So why are the plants and the shopping my problem!"
Some great advice so far..I'm sure I'll get used to it. To be honest, having a day or so clear to catch up with paperwork has been unheard of until now so I should embrace it.
Try commuting to work. As in, get out of bed, have breakfast, go for a ride of about an hour, get back home and then shower, change and go to your desk / home office.
It actually puts you in the right mindset rather than aimlessly wandering the house in your dressing gown procrastinating.
Helps if you can leave the house briefly for lunch as well.
Great idea! 😄
The only thing i miss about working in an office with others is the bantz . Having said that, i dont ever want to have to go back to one to work properly.
Ill often spend the morning or afternoon in a clients office, sorting out finer details of a project, drink their coffee and join in the general pisstaking in there. Tis nice to be able to stand up and walk out whenever i want, and not have to pretend im working when the big boss walks in 😁
Been doing this routine for 4 years now, before that it was a bit sporadic and living so close to the office meant it was easier to go in than make my own breakfast.
My routine is simple,
Wake, PC on.
Log on to see if anything immediate needs attention.
Work from 8-1030 then tea.
Work from 11-1330 then lunch.
PM can be random, based on output from the mornings stint.
For example I’m doing some data cleansing stuff as a tacitical solution to a large existing problem on an OS layer, so it’s meant concentration levels have been high and critical analysis high.. This I can do for limited periods before my brain gets all fuddled.
I’d normally pass this stuff on to someone else, buts it’s kinda fun keeping your skills up to date..
I do sometimes go for a run when the schools kick out, mainly to ogle at the Mums..
I get up at 6 and start work by 7, then keep going with just a tea break mid morning. That way by lunchtime I’ve already got a good 4-5 hours in & feel less guilty about my post prandial nap or bike ride.
I have no idea, I am crap at it. I am however brilliant at covering up the fact I've done nothing at home.
On a mentalist day: wake at 6:00, fire up the downstairs office at 6:05 avec coffee, smash out 60-90 mins of whatever needs addressing, begin school run prep, complete school run, work until midday, have a chomp, work until mid-afternoon, crash for a few mins, get back in the zone, do childminder run, play, sort out supper, so the bedtime routine, sort out urgent life admin, tap away at more work stuff, crash at anytime from 22:00 to 01:00.
On a chilled day: wake at 7:30, begin school run prep, complete school run, pick up sausage roll(s) from epic butcher/deli, crack on with a bit of work, disappear on bike or go for run, shower, sort out pressing life chores, finish a bit of work, do childminder run ... and so on.
Occasionally I'll spend a couple of hours in one of the lovely local cafes, a la this morning. Nom nom.
EDIT: One thing I'm really trying to do is feel gratitude for my work/life balance. I posted about this a few weeks and am currently cracking on with a WFH contract. Some days I could climb the walls trying to figure stuff out / get stuff done. Other days I really am in the zone and on top of things. No matter what, I'm more fortunate than many and really need to express that.
EDIT: I also need to learn to live in the moment more. Now is about now, not forever thinking about all the other stuff that needs to be done. Being a dad I really need to get this nailed.
I work on my own from a serviced office space, working remotely for a large company.
I could work from home. I have in the past for several years and I still do sometimes when kids are ill, but I definitely prefer having somewhere to go for work.
It focuses the mind more (he says, posting on STW when a deadline is due...)
13.20 Do some foreigners
Eh?
Have to treat it as work.
proper set up with a good chair not in the room with the TV. Although I do set up a second laptop and watch movies as I work.
Lunch is prepared the night before so I don’t have an excuse to go to the supermarket or cook for ages...
i generally get more done as there is no one around but I have to be very task focused and have proper objectives for the day.
For example I’m doing some data cleansing stuff as a tacitical solution to a large existing problem on an OS layer, so it’s meant concentration levels have been high and critical analysis high.. This I can do for limited periods before my brain gets all fuddled.
You delete a few things off your overcrowded desktop?
This is a sore subject with me now.
i had been allowed to WFH 2 days a week for the last 4 years,as I had handed notice in as the 45min commute pissed me off plus we had/have childcare issues. The firm offered this up as a solution so I stayed.... pretty much just on this basis.
anyway the firm have literally grown ten fold and a couple of months back I was handed a new employment conditions which state that I can no longer WFH.
this is based on the fact I’m the only one of 20 or more engineers that had WFH benefits in their employment conditions.
Its messed things up considerably and I’m left fuming really as now I sit with a bunch of very chatty-disruptive youngsters (under 30’s) and struggle to get work out of the door and now have to rely on eldest son to look after the youngest which he’s not happy about and making life difficult.
I miss the old WFH days and will start looking again but it’s not what I want they have just sort of forced my hand.
https://getcoldturkey.com/ if you have no willpower.
Agree with setting hours and getting out of the house - have 2 kids in nursery so I drop off and pick up so I always get out first thing and have to finish at 5.30. Still not quite figured out how this will work once eldest starts school.
Do video calls by default - set up desk so you have a plain wall behind or some colleagues have pulldown screens or curtains to hide the mess. Although the background blurring in Teams now saves some of that. I spend half my day on calls so if anything could do with a bit less contact.
For example I’m doing some data cleansing stuff as a tacitical solution to a large existing problem on an OS layer, so it’s meant concentration levels have been high and critical analysis high.. This I can do for limited periods before my brain gets all fuddled.
You delete a few things off your overcrowded desktop?
Yip, you got it 🤩
I’m, BTW, only WFH one/two days a week. Which fits in perfectly because when I’m in the office it’s normally the High Level SteerCo stuff.. and honestly that does my head in and I’m due some down time.
🧟♂️
One of the good bits is as you're WFH, it's assumed you'll be occupied at times with family stuff, dealing with deliveries, having to pop to the shop or may be in the bathroom. So whenever someone calls and you don't answer it's just accepted you're not available right now, so you can just not answer the phone/email/IM request (set your availability to 'away').
In the office you can be pestered every two seconds because you're there, or if someone calls, they'll call repeatedly until you answer.
I find doing the work just depends what it is. Something that's dull and doesn't really need doing, then it likely won't get done, so you do other stuff all day and it probably gets forgotten about or you can wing it later. Things that I'm actually interested in doing I might get very involved in and consumes far more of my attention than in an office. So much that I neglect to do the home bits I wanted to do while WFH anyway, and even miss out on the evening group rides because I forget the time.
Then there's the shit-hit-the-fan issues in the office and you spend ages trying to diagnose customer issues remotely with a bit of Chinese whispers going on between everyone, and it's hard to take a break. Today is one of those days.
I use the tranquility of not being interrupted to get tricky analytical stuff and reports done.
A dash of heavy metal playing in the background, cup of tea and stop for sandwiches and an episode of 70s detective drama over lunch.
If I'm doing reporting work my productivity is higher at home.
I've been working from home for 7 years now. 2 employed and 2.5 self-employed, and 2.5 as a joint partner of a business. This year is the first time I've really 'got it', previously in the pursuit of discipline I'd sit at my desk 9-5 regardless of whether I have any work to do. Now I use the flexibility to spend time with family or ride when not busy (I also work evenings and weekend if I have to although thankfully rare).
Good: No commute (money and time savings)
Very high productivity on task based work,
Flexibility for deliveries, doctors appointments etc
Not so good: Can be isolating, especially if your job does not include much interaction with others (my business partner and I have hangouts open most of the time so it's like a virtual office,
Similarly working remotely can distance you from your colleagues or clients, embrace the chance to get out.
Very easy not to leave the house which isn't healthy mentally or physically (I try to a quick ride or Zwift before work or and walk at lunchtime).
Your partner may not understand that you are at work, mine finally does but for a few years I was given a daily list of chores to do.
Having young kids at home on non-nursery days is a nightmare sometimes, my 3 year old generally gets it now but with another on the way I've moved the office further away from the hallway which helps.
I that it's easier to avoid work that I don't want to do, especially things without deadlines.