Working from a Home Office

I have worked from home before.  I have had a business that was based in my house, though I was mostly on assignment at clients.  With my new company based in Connecticut, I am now back to working from my home office.  One of the obvious benefits is that after 16 years commuting to NY for ITG, I gain back 3 to 4 hours of my day.  That is a significant amount of time: 15 – 20 hours a week, 60 – 80 hours a month, etc.  Of course, the other immediate benefit is if there is an emergency, I am already at home.  Cool!  But it is not all that easy, as I must be more diligent on how I spend my time and minimize the distractions.

Many years ago, my brother went from commuting to the city to having his department directed to work from home as a corporate space saver.  I remember him worrying about how to segregate work time from home time when this first happened.  He told the story of one of his associates leaving in the morning, dressed in business clothes, only to head to the nearest Starbucks.  From there, he would have his coffee and read his morning paper as if he were riding the train.  When he was done, he would drive “to the office” and begin his day.  I am not looking to do that!

I do believe that I need to ensure that I have the proper morning routine in place to help.  The habit that I am putting into place will be an extension of the habits that I have followed for a few years.  The planned schedule is:

·         Wake up (around 5:30),

·         Exercise for 30 – 40 minutes,

·         Shower,

·         Make myself a healthy breakfast (usually eggs),

·         Spend time writing (either for blog or other),

·         Read for 20 – 30 minutes (Personal development, classic book or just for fun),

·         Meditate (chance to reflect on prior day and current…OK, sometimes I doze off),

·         Start work. 

While that looks like a busy morning – it is!  However, this makes the morning time a productive portion of my day before the day starts.  Leadership expert, Robin Sharma, often talks and writes about the benefits of starting one’s day at 5:00 for productivity reasons, which I have followed for years.  The good thing about this schedule is that when I need to be on the road, there is no reason why I cannot maintain this routine.  The routine is important, not because I am anal in following the same thing over and over, but because it provides a productive structure to the start of my day.  Otherwise, time for exercise, etc. will not be available and I will not do these personal productivity activities.

Once work starts (generally 9:00), I go to my office to focus on what I need to accomplish.  Like working in a physical office, I still have the list of items to accomplish.  Lunchtime is set for the same time every day (structure is good).  Yes, there are more distractions.  Yes, I can do an errand if needed instead of trying to squeeze them in on the weekend.  Yes, I can attend to issues at the JCCP where I am president of the organization.  Even so, they have to fit into the schedule of my day.  In the office or out, we do need breaks from work to regroup, reflect and refocus.

Any other suggestions would, of course, be helpful.  Written down, this looks simple, but it will not always be easy.