Working from home is a dream that many share. Not having to go into the office every day. Not having to get up at a ridiculously early time in the morning, to then spend an hour or maybe even more commuting via a bus, a train or negotiating the motorway in your own car – just to then spend a day smiling at colleagues you can’t abide and a boss you like even less.
Staying at home to work sounds like a dream come true for most in that situation. Yet working from home has its own pitfalls, ones that may not spring to mind on first consideration, but which become increasingly obvious when you are actually working from home.
One of those pitfalls is the isolation factor, also known as cabin fever. Working at home, alone, isolated from the world, in the same place and with (depending on the nature of the business) zero social interaction, can slowly but surely drive a person round the bend. Impossible as it may sound, you might even find yourself starting to miss those annoying colleagues and that irritating boss.
Fortunately, there are some things you can do if you feel isolated, to mitigate the isolation factor. One of those things is simply to get yourself a little bit of variety in the day. For instance, do you have to do the work from home? Is there some work you could perform from an internet café, perhaps?
It would at least get you out of the house. If you have a laptop, of course, then the possibilities open up even more. Do your work from your local coffee shop or even the park if it’s a nice day.
There is also the phenomenon known as “hot desking”. This entails booking professional office space by the day (or half day). This is a particularly good idea if your business involves the occasional meetings with clients.
On the simpler side, another way to avoid the isolation factor is just to take a break now and again and get out of the house. Something as simple as going for a walk just to get a breath of fresh air can take away that sensation of the walls closing in around you.
Also, don’t forget to have your regular meals at the regular times, and indeed, end the day at a normal time, too. Working from home can make it easy to start skipping meals and working your way into the middle of the night, which rather distracts from one of the key reasons most people want to set up a home business – more personal freedom and free time.
Also ensure that, particularly if you have a family, you keep your family and work life strictly separate. While your family needs to understand and respect that you work from home and that your job must be treated as seriously as any other job, you should also not focus on your job to the exclusion of everything else, and therefore neglecting other responsibilities.
For many, working from home can end up being as tedious and frustrating as working in the office – but setting and following a few simple rules can help to ensure that your dream doesn’t become a nightmare.
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