Balancing Your Life While Working From Home

As someone who works from home, I know that it can be very hard to stay focused on work when your personal life is all around you. It’s tempting to throw in a load of laundry, check the score of the game, or start making a grocery list instead of getting down to the business of your workday. Here are a few things I’ve found helpful in separating my work from my personal life. Keep a Schedule. With no one docking you for being late to the office, it’s easy to sleep in for a few extra minutes, or hours, in the morning. Don’t do it. Set your alarm clock for a reasonable time to wake up and start your workday. By reasonable I mean don’t expect to get up at 6:30 AM if you aren’t a morning person. And starting your day at 11 AM means that you’ll have to work until about 7 PM, which won’t happen if you go out a lot. Know your habits and discipline yourself to stay on schedule. Take Breaks. In an office, no one works for 8 hours straight. People take lunch breaks, get up to go to the water cooler, and surf around on the Internet. Taking short breaks can keep you more productive at home, too. Staring at a computer screen for 6 hours straight will make you crazy. Do yourself a favor and take a little break. Digital Separation. With no one looking over your shoulder, it’s easy to IM with friends or have phone conversations that aren’t work-related. Personally, I’m very particular about keeping my work and social lives separate so I’m not distracted by friends during my workday or distracted by work during non-work hours. I have two separate Skype accounts, one for work associates and one for family and friends, so I don’t have someone from work trying to contact me while I’m talking to my mom over Skype. I also use an app called All Mobile Office that lets me use my iPhone as my work phone. The app gives me another phone number, which is the one I give out to work associates. I still use my iPhone to make calls, but when I use All Mobile Office my work associates see my work number as the incoming caller, instead of my personal number, and when they call my work number the calls go straight to my iPhone. This way I can keep my personal phone number for just my personal contacts, and it saves me money by eliminating the need for an extra phone line. Be Flexible. In any job, sometimes you’ll have to work late. Sometimes you’ll be having a hard day and really need to take an hour break to watch an episode or two of 30 Rock. Be flexible and don’t hold too tightly to your schedule or your way of doing things. After all, one of the benefits of working from home is flexibility. Find out what works best for you and stick to it, but be open to making a few tweaks when you need to. I hope these tips help you separate your work life from your personal life. Please share any of your own tips in the comments section.