The key to successful home working

Why self awareness is key to home working

The clip below is part of an online programme about home working I’ve made recently. I’ve been inspired to show it today following a Twitter chat with yet another home worker who works in different places around the house depending on what she’s doing and the kind of mood she’s in.

This is of course in complete contradiction of the conventional wisdom that in order to get a scrap of work done, you must have a dedicated office space and a door to close. But if that was true, no coworking space would succeed, would it?

And there are plenty of other circumstances in home working where it helps so much to understand your own personality and needs, rather than relying on the advice of someone who doesn’t know you.

I’ve summarised them under the video if you don’t have the four minutes to listen.

Things to understand about yourself so you get the most from home working:

• When are you most able to concentrate and get into work? Maybe you’re a morning person who likes to get up early and start before everyone else. Some people don’t really get going til the afternoon or evening, and some prefer to burn the midnight oil.
• What kind of environment do you like to work in? When you’re home working, you have control over what goes on in the background – music, conversation or quiet.
• How much interaction do you prefer? You might like to have complete control over your work. Some people want input from others, or feedback at tricky moments,
• Are you a detail or big picture person? Detail people can get bogged down with the small stuff, big picture people have no problem starting, but can get derailed later by details they’ve overlooked.
• How good are you at decision-making? Some people have no problem, others hesitate because they can see all sides of the argument.
• Think about the family commitments you need to work around, and talk to your family about home working. They are more likely to be cooperative if they understand why you’re doing it – and the benefits for them!
• Ask your family and friends for their opinion on all of these questions regarding home working. Sometimes we have blind spots about certain aspects of our character that others see very clearly!

Resources: Insights personality profiles – find out more about your personality and working style

Work from Home book – where there is a whole chapter on making home working work for you.