By Jenna Glatzer
The ones who don't work enough get caught up in the "home"
aspect of the home office. Something is always calling them away:
a crying baby, the laundry, a trip to the convenience store, a pot
on the stove, daytime TV shows. They give in to temptation and never
truly put in an honest day's work. Then they come to me and ask
how in the world I'm so productive.
It's because I fall into the other extreme category. Im a
full-time writer, and I get caught up in the "office"
aspect of the home office. It gets simple to see each minute as
a potential dollar, and each day as a new possibility to sell the
novel, write the next bestseller, break into the almighty national
magazine market.
Know that when you are self-employed, you won't have anyone looming
over your desk to keep you on track. Sure, that may sound delicious,
but do some real self-assessing: can you handle it?
If no one tells you when and how to work, will you have the discipline
necessary to earn a living? Will you ever start your work? Will
you ever stop?
When you get hooked into the cycle of never truly leaving office-mode,
the point of working from home gets diminished. Sure, you may work
in your pajamas, but you wind up putting in more hours than you
would have at a day job, and you forget to enjoy the perks of being
self-employed.
The single cure for either extreme mode is the same: set goals
and meet them. If you're not getting enough work done, set an attainable
goal (write a new press release before noon, or make five cold calls
before the end of the day), and keep to it, no matter how you have
to juggle your life around it.
If you're working too much, set that
same goal and then STOP. Write those releases, or make those calls,
and then get up from that chair, stretch, and do something that
doesn't involve work in any manner.
I once read something that has stuck with me (pardon me for not
knowing the attribution): At the end of your life, will you regret
not putting in more overtime?
As for me, I'll be embarrassed to die until I've achieved a lifestyle
with a better balance: One that involves more family and fun time,
and less time logged in my computer chair.
Sanity breaks are so important, and if you're going to freelance
full-time, you have to set limits. You have to take days off, re-discover
your significant other's birthmarks, and just plain enjoy life.
Otherwise, why are you working? Remember what it is youre
working toward and why you chose to work at home.
If you're like me, you may work better with a written schedule.
On this schedule, write down both your work responsibilities and
your "play" responsibilities.
Mine sometimes looks like
this:
9:00-12:00: Work on new article for XYZ Magazine.
12:00-1:00 Lunch break.
1:00-5:00 Write query and send it to 5 new markets.
5:00-6:00: Cook dinner.
6:00-7:00 Dinner.
7:00-8:00 Exercise.
...and so on.
I keep a daily schedule book that has room for me to write down
all of my "to do" list each day. If you lose track of
time, you may want to set an alarm clock to remind you when it's
time to quit, or you may try setting your computer to "defragmentation
mode" at a particular time each day (your "quitting time").
Commit
to becoming less extreme. Working from home is a wonderful thing...
in moderation.
About the Author Jenna Glatzer is the author of Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer
and several other books.
Visit her at www.jennaglatzer.com and pick up a free editors' cheat sheet! She is also the editor
of www.absolutewrite.com,
the most popular online magazine for writers. |