After I moved to US from India, I worked on various consultancy roles and some of them were work from home. Then when I started blogging and made it full-time, I realized that I can easily spend 9-10 hours on the couch. To an extent that on some days I would not even get up to take a shower or even brush my teeth. M would come back to a vision, which was as if time had stopped! However, it didn't take me very long to realize that it was absolutely counter-productive. At that time I was struggling to set up. My blog layout sucked, I was distracted throughout and would have spent an entire day, without even having worked on the next day's post. Eventually time passed and I kept working around it to figure out a way to get out of that comfortable rut! So now, I have made some very clear and simple ground rules for myself.
Treat working from home with respect
The easy inclination would be to not get out of the PJs in the morning, sometimes not even get out of the bed. I don't need to tell you that these are all bad ideas. This leads to procrastination and poor output. I still find it difficult to get myself together and think that it is no less important work than what I would had done for someone else, so why not behave the same way. I make an effort to get up at a specific time, and get ready by 9am sharp, as if its my duty to do so. I take a shower, dress up, put make up on, but no formal shoes after all whats the whole point of work from home then?
Rule # 1 Get dressed by a fixed time
Make arrangement
When we moved to our new apartment, we got our furniture for the first time. And right from the beginning I knew that I needed a workspace. So when we had pushed in our bed and 2 chest of drawers we had run out of space already, so I had to make the hard decision of letting go one thing to get the desk. So instead of getting a bed-side table on my side of the bed, I chose the desk. It saved me space, and serves the dual purpose of desk / bedside table. Now, the reason why I wanted it in my bedroom was because my Television is in my living room. So, its dry important to stay away from all the potential distractions! If you have the luxury, then I would say, get a room. But what is important is that you should definitely have a dedicated work space, whether its small or big. And make sure that you are there all the time that you are working
Rule # 2 Have a dedicated workspace, away from distractions
Work on a budget
Being a blogger its very easy to sway away from the budget. Especially if I am creating content relating to Beauty, fashion and other lifestyle subjects. So now I have decided on an affordable budget, so that I have complete control on what I spend. Also, whatever I spend, I always keep the receipts and after buying I write it down in a notebook. It helps me keep a tab and also to file my taxes.
Rule # 3 Get a fixed budget and maintain record of your expenses
Get out of the house everyday
This was my biggest challenges, and still is till date. I am an introvert, I work on my own and I live in a place that is crazy crazy cold. Which means that I need huge motivation to get out. But I have come to realize that its super important. So I make an effort to get out. Sometimes I go out for photo shoots, if possible networking, sometimes lunch with friends, or just take my laptop to a cafe and chill out. But its important to get the fresh air at least once a day.
Rule # 4 Figure out a way to get out of the house at least once a day.
Like I said, I am struggling with these problems myself. But I also believe that realization is the first step. I would like to know if you have any such observations too, that I have not included here. Do let me know, so that we can perhaps work on them together. till then...
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