Page 21 - 2013 LDN Home Improvement Magazine

2013 HOME IMPROVEMENT MAGAZINE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com May 1, 2013
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rather than helping it.
So here are some things to consider as you plan
and implement your work-at-home strategy:
1. Working at home can either turn into being
at work all the time or never being at work at all.
Giving your employer an honest day of work is
important, and drawing the line fairly on work vs.
life might be the difference
between career success and
self-destruction.
Suggestions:
a. Pre-define the daily hours
that belong to your employer
and the hours that belong to
you and your family. If your
employer is paying you for
eight hours of work, then
decide when it is your employer’s time and when
it is your time.
b. Determine and list the tasks you should
accomplish each day. Some people resist lists,
but without any organization, there is usually less
work accomplished.
c. Purchase a special clock that rings or chimes
or dongs or makes some special sound in your
workspace at each hour, helping you to mentally
meter out the passing of time and what still needs
to be accomplished. Your special clock will also
help remind you when it is time to stop working.
2. Your workspace must be carved out of your
living space and dedicated to inspiring you to
work. You will be less inspired and dedicated if
the workspace is too casual or too cozy.
Suggestions:
Many people make the mistake of just using
their home space as it is, without modification.
Using the existing couch and coffee table will
likely lure us to turn on the television, and the
next thing we know, we are no longer at work but
instead are at home.
Our workspace needs to serve our work needs
rather than lure us to distraction. It needs to
remind us constantly that we are in this space
getting stuff done. And when it is done, we leave
the workspace and go back to the comfort of our
home.
When there are no boundaries, there is only
home. We need to cordon off a space that is
dedicated toworking for our employer. This space
should be dedicated to ourwork
tasks. It should be respected by
other family members as the
place where we do our job. Our
work computer and work desk
should not become the play
area for our children when we
are not occupying that space.
Many employers provide
funding to design and decorate
your workspace to transform
it from home space to workspace, which brings
productive results. Local interior designers can
lend special expertise that inspires you to get
work done. Local contractors can make those
construction alterations for you. And, a dedicated
workspace can be deducted on your income taxes.
3. We are social people, and we are leaving the
social workplace to do our work in the isolation
of home. So the workspace must not become a
dungeon where we are shut away from humanity,
but instead needs to be a place where there may
be some socializing with family members and
friends that does not compromise our ability
to concentrate and accomplish our daily work
regimen.