Posts tagged work/life balance
Favourite home worker things No 6
Jul 29th
Charlotte Baker of OutThereHQ is ‘building a community and place in Winchester that has a café’s buzz and is full of people working on interesting projects.’ Which means lots of freelancers and self-employed people, I imagine! Charlotte is also going to be starting Jelly there in the autumn.
She is obviously fuelled by tea and the pink teacosy is her favourite home working item – ‘You just don’t get this kind of thing in an office. And all my own work too. As for tea, builders for me.’
Favourite home worker things No 5
Jul 28th
Chrissie Slade creates skincare solutions for pampered guinea pigs and nominates this box as her favourite home working item:
‘Here is one of my inspiration boxes 
Some people collect shoes, I collect Essential Oils and use them every day as part of my “job” creating skincare products for guinea pigs. Working with nice aromas every day is a real pleasure.’
More home workers’ favourites coming up over the week. If you’d like to share your own peculiar pleasure, just email a photo and some words to me at judy@workfromhomewisdom.com. Can’t wait to see ‘em!
Favourite home worker things No 4
Jul 23rd
Emma Windsor is a virtual PA and sent me a picture of her garden as well, but for some reason I can’t make it come out the right way up, so I’ll just show you her cute feline friend for now.
‘If the weather is good I like to go out and sit and be quiet for 5/10 mins. The cat may come and sit for awhile or I’ll watch her running around like a lunatic. If the weather is bad then I can see from office window or watch and stare whilst waiting for kettle to boil.
‘I can also see the school playground in the distance. I can’t make out my daughter but it is lovely to hear them playing.
‘All my clients work from home, many in the middle of nowhere. If I have to pop over I love being with nature and sometimes stroking their pets.
‘Lovely to be around beautiful things rather than sharp edges of office buildings and the heat of the city.’
Thank you to everyone who has sent pictures so far. I’ve more lined up ready to publish and look forward to seeing more of your home worker favourites.
Favourite home worker things No 3
Jul 23rd
Elizabeth Druce is busy organising Chiltern Jelly, which is good news for home workers and freelancers working in the Beds/Bucks/Herts borders area.
‘I couldn’t resist sending you this picture of my little home worker helper. He sits on my desk, in just the right spot for me to easily glance toward his quizzical little face when I’m in need of inspiration, I’m angry, frustrated or sad and ask him “So Chips, what do you think then?” Who could not resist a smile when gazing upon him?’
Favourite home worker things No 2
Jul 22nd
Best to click on the photo for a larger view of this. Tim Osmond has taken its words to heart and says only, ‘It’s an old Government poster from the 60′s by Reginald Mount – I have more, my walls are a bit stern…’
Tim’s wife writes a blog about vintage posters, Quad Royal, which would be a good destination for home workers wanting to take a quick break without leaving their desk. I particularly like these Daphne Padden posters. I would say I might even remember them, but that’s impossible, I’m far too young…
Favourite home worker things No 1
Jul 21st
There’s been a great response to my previous post about the little things that lighten a home worker’s load, so I’m starting to publish them sooner than expected. The first to arrive was from Paul Graves, @cyteen02, who says:
‘Here’s one of my favourite home worker things. This is a picture of the outside of my first floor window. I have a couple of bird feeders, which at the moment are a favourite haunt of a family of 2 adult and 3 recently fledged blue tits. It’s a wonderful reminder of life outside my office.
‘Home working, as an IT specialist, has a load of benefits, especially as I’m a family man and delight to be around them all a bit more. But there are times when I feel I live in my office, so any reminder of life outside is much appreciated.’
Thanks, Paul, I think many of us can identify with that. I’ve got more favourite home worker things lined up ready for publication so please keep ‘em coming!
3 ways to take a break without leaving your desk when you work at home
Jul 16th
1. Hook up with fellow home workers and freelancers on Twitter
At 11 am in the UK the hospitable San Sharma (Charmer?) of Enterprise Nation hosts #watercoolermoment, which has a daily topic for you to chew over. On Fridays you can eyeball each other on the video chat.
I’ve recently also discovered #elevensestime, which I popped into for the first time today and found a very friendly and welcoming bunch of tweeters. @MartinGBEdwards is the main man and there’s also a blog Elevenses Time, which brings me neatly to my next point:
2. Give your brain a rest
and gather some inspiration by reading a blog or two totally unrelated to your work. One of my absolute favourites is The Sartorialist, a photo blog of stylish ‘ordinary’ people in the streets of New York and the cities Sartorialist Scott Schuman visits to record fashion shows. I also like Wee Birdy, a fresh, colourful design blog by an Australian living in London with lots of equally good links.
3. And just for a change
stop looking at that computer screen and give your eyes a rest. We tend to spend far too long for the health of our eyes gazing at computers. Keep your eyes open while cupping your palms gently over them and look into the soft, warm blackness for a couple of minutes…aaaahhh, what a relief!
Would you let your kids plan your home working diary?
Jul 13th
The little Somerset town of Frome where we moved two years ago is a vibrant and creative place and its annual festival is growing every year. On Sunday I was delighted to take part in Writers and Publishers Day by running a workshop for writers who work from home.
I had a very enjoyable and useful time talking to twelve enthusiastic writers about the issues that most affect them and any home worker – developing some kind of routine for your working day, the terrors of procrastination, and how to recognise when you’re spending too much time alone.
Everyone agreed that juggling home and family commitments with work can be a nightmare and often the writing gets abandoned because other, more mundane jobs seem so much more pressing. Even things like ironing and digging the garden yield a quick, tangible result, while making time to write can seem indulgent and selfish.
We agreed that these are issues that never seem to get resolved, and then yesterday one of the group told me that her children had planned the day to include a couple of hours writing time – and unlike many of her own previous plans, those hours actually happened!
Which makes me wonder if she has stumbled upon a brilliant solution to home working parents’ guilt – let the kids have a hand in planning the diary, including your work time, so they have an investment in making it happen.
5 reasons to hate home working
Jul 8th
1. Incipient madness
So you thought it would be wonderful to get away from the interrruptions of the office and be massively more productive. What you didn’t reckon on was how quickly motivation can spiral down when there’s nobody around to help keep the momentum going. The horrors of the mid-afternoon slump can make you doubt your own sanity.
2. Weight gain
You’re constantly in temptingly close proximity to the fridge and food cupboard, which need to be stocked if the household isn’t going to starve. Snacks and drinks are always just metres and a few minutes away and it’s all to easy to pop down to the kitchen whenever you’re feeling stuck, bored or demotivated (see 1 above).
3. Just leave me alone
Nobody seems to understand the working bit of being at home. They think they can pitch up at any time for a cuppa or a favour. You unthinkingly answer the phone in the middle of a task only to get your mother asking if you are coming to lunch on Sunday and do you like broad beans? Having caused offence with your off-hand response, it is impossible to find your way back to that sweet spot of concentration.
4. I’m never off-duty
It feels more like living at work than working from home. Work haunts you with reminders whenever you pass the ‘office’ (dining room/spare bedroom/garage) door. Paper and bits of IT equipment drift into the corners of every room and the cat chooses your in-tray as its favourite bed.
5. Get me out of here
People are always banging on about how much time and money you save by not commuting. But nobody ever mentions how claustrophobic it gets when you spend nearly all your life within the same four walls. Mind-numbingly claustrophobic to the point where the weekly shopping trip to Asda becomes a kind of treat. Tragic.
News, news!
Jun 2nd
Those of you who are self-employed will know that there are many milestones when you’re working for yourself – collecting your new business cards, your first meeting, the first client, first invoice (whoo hoo). I’ve just achieved a milestone by sending out my first newsletter. (And you can sign up by clicking on the little green house at the top of the right-hand column).
I’ll be sending it out from time to time to tell subscribers the latest and best news about working from home and to offer special deals on my growing range of products and services. This month – or until 14 June – subscribers can get a 60 minute Work from Home Audit for the price of 30 minutes.
I’ve been amazed and delighted by the leaps made by the people who have done the Audit so far. They’ve confirmed that losing a sense of perspective really is one of the chief dangers of working from home, but that talking to someone who both understands and can be entirely objective can rapidly lead to renewed enthusiasm and surprising progress.
So don’t stay stuck, give me a call and get moving!
