Day 17: From Corporate to the Homestead

Many people say to me, “John, I do not know how you do it. If I was to work at home I would be spending all my time in front of the TV and would never get anything done.” When I hear this I usually tell them that it is not an easy task at first, you do need to use a lot of discipline.

So if you are making that switch from the corporate setting to your more comfortable abode here are some things that might help keep you from drifting off into TV land.

First you want to setup a designated work area. It can be an entire separate room or even just a corner with your desk setup. This area needs to be reserved for your work only. That way you will begin to develop the mind set that if you are in this area you are in your “office.”

A tricky part to having your office setup is if you live with other people try to help them understand that when you are in your office area that you are working and they need to try and keep that in mind. That will help keep you focused on your work and hopefully cut down on some of the distractions.

One of the most important things is structure. You need to treat your work at home job as if it was a regular 9 – 5 job. This does not mean that you need to be constantly working from 9 – 5 in your office, but it does mean that you need to figure out when the best time is for you to work during the day and make sure you try to always “be on time” to work. Plus you really need to try and do nothing else but work during this time. This will help generate that mind set that during these said hours of the day you need to punch in and work.

You also need to make sure you take breaks. What? Breaks? Yes I know, but if you think about it in the corporate setting there are plenty of little things to give your mind a short break. So taking a short 5 – 10 minute break every couple of hours will help keep you from getting burned out.

When Esther Steinfeld interviewed Peter Shankman of Help A Reporter Out, one of the things he said that really helped him make this transition was he would turn on CNN in the background. This helped him create that “office atmosphere” and helped him get over the feeling that he was in his house.

So in conclusion, working at home might be a tough transition at first, but the benefits and just the work at your own pace side of it makes it well worth it.

Be sure to hit us up on our Facebook page: www.FaceBook.com/TheBusinessMakers. You can post any suggests you might have or questions about how to get setup to work at home and we can all help each other out.

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