How to Work at Home and Keep Your Sanity!

by Terri Seymour

More Home Business Articles

Published on this site: December 2003 - See more articles from this month

Working at home can be a blessing and/or a disaster depending on how you are able to handle it. A home business or job is not for all of us. I know a lot of people who much prefer to "get out in the world" to work.

I absolutely love working at home. I did enjoy working outside the home as well, but I am a homebody and much prefer working at home. It does have disadvantages and problems though as well.

Isolation - This can be a tough one to deal with for some people. Sitting in your lonely little corner or home office hour after hour can get you down. When you start feeling isolated and lonely contact an online friend and chat awhile. If no one is available, take a break and get outside. Take a walk to visit a friend or family member. Just getting out in the fresh air can make you feel rejuvenated and alive again. Even a phone call to an old friend or your spouse, if possible, can do wonders.

Self-discipline - This one can be a tuffy. Having your own business can tend to make us lazy once in awhile. I know it does me. ;-) What I do is go over my goals and the reasons I started my business in the first place. I also think about all my readers/customers who are counting on me. This helps me get back into focus and to get motivated to go back to work. You need to train yourself to work when it is work time because you have no boss to do it for you.

Schedule Keeping - Making up a schedule is easy, sticking to it is not. I try not to have too strict of a schedule because it probably will need to be changed now and then. Try a daily schedule instead of a hourly one. This will make it much easier to bend it when you need to. Not being able to follow your schedule can be frustrating to say the least, but preparing a flexible schedule makes it less stressful on you and everyone else.

Family Distractions - This is one of the main reasons it is so hard to stick to our schedules! ;-) Make time for your family and make sure they understand that work time is for work and family time is for them. With me, my family comes first and I arrange my schedule around them and it works out very well.

Lack of Respect - Although we know how important our business is, our family or friends may not. They think we are playing around or just doing a hobby. You need to sit them down and explain that this is your job and it is very important to you and they need to respect that. Be firm. They will get the message. ;-)

Organization - Although we might be very organized, we just might not have the space when working at home. Some people might have a office, but some of us have work stations or corners. I have a corner. Although, I don't have much room, I am able to stay fairly well organized. I have a shelf, a desk and a drawer - with a file cabinet in another room and this is all I need. Most of the organizing is on the computer so I don't need a lot of outside room. I print out pertinent records and file them accordingly. I have a 4-story paper tray which holds all my "need now or soon" papers. The shelf holds my printer, answering machine and phone. And I also have a junk drawer (we all need one of those)! ;-) This works out with
very few or no problems.

Although working at home does have some disadvantages, I would not want to give it up for anything. I love the freedom of it, the excitement of it, the pride of it, and all the wonderful people I have met.

If you feel you are a candidate for a home business or job, I say go for it, but I wish you much success in whichever path you choose!