All this sure sounds tempting – one would think that it’s the best way to work, but as a home worker myself – I must tell you that the fantasy only lasts so long. Sooner than you know you will find yourself being a lot less productive than if you were in an office, working longer hours (because of that most likely) and generally stressed out, people are coming over for visits and whatnot. That is because working from home is all about boundaries and discipline. Remember that.

I personally love telecommuting – I like the fact that I am in the comfort of my own apartment – the privacy is great and I like my privacy, also the time that I am saving for trips to and from work is an awesome bonus. So I am obviously pro for working from home. Sometimes some human interaction would be great and I miss it occasionally, but the benefits of being a worker from home are just too big to miss out on. Keep in mind that all of these advices I am giving you are from personal and practical experience.

A List of Things You Need to Do in Order to Work From Home Properly

1. First thing you need to do if you want to work from home is set up a good, productive working environment for yourself. Create a home office – working from the kitchen table isn’t gonna cut it. Set it up so when you step inside you get in the “work mode”.
2. Set your working hours. I can not emphasize this enough – it’s so important that you set your working time and separate working time from leisure time. When you are working from home you tend to procrastinate and you then end up working whole day. People (clients) pick up on that and start sending requests in the strangest hours of the day. “Can you do this for me? – it’ll take only a couple of minutes.” – get a couple of those and there goes your day! – because we all know nothing takes less than an hour – especially if your job requires you to be creative. Set your working hours whenever you feel like (if you have that freedom) – but honor them. If it’s 10am – 6pm check out at 6pm, don’t check email, don’t answer the phone.
3. Separate your contacts – have a business email account, and preferably a phone line you use for business only. You don’t want people getting ahold of your personal email address and/or phone number and send you requests through them. If you have a “one for all” email address – set up filters. Gmail does this wonderfully.
4. Treat your work as if you were going to work. I mean the whole deal – dress up before you start – so no working in your pajamas, dress nice as if you are going somewhere where there will be people. One other thing – and this might sound a bit strange to you – wear shoes during working hours. This works sort of like a subliminal message – on a subconscious level your brain will know you are at work, and once you take them off you’ll be home. I don’t know where I heard this from, but it is an awesome advice and I am happily practicing it.
5. Lastly – remember to take breaks – normal breaks for meals, half an hour to an hour, twice or three times during the day and try to do something that’s not related to your work. So if you are a Web designer don’t check out sites during the break – go and read a magazine or have a conversation on some other topic (other than design) – and when you come back it’s crunch time. It will recharge your batteries and provide you with a fresh start each time you come back to the project you were working at. Remember – a break is a part of work. Set a timer if you need to or if you tend to get easily distracted by a lot of work or if you tend to take long breaks.

So there you have it – a couple of practical advices from a fellow home worker. In my opinion working from home is tricky – at first you think it’s like not working at all, but then you realize you need a lot of discipline and hard work to make it work. It’s well worth it in my opinion, I’m just saying that you need to put in an effort if you want to lead a healthy lifestyle with as little stress as possible. Whatever you do – remember to work smarter – not necessarily harder and be efficient with your time.