Working from home can be really challenging.
I know people think that remote workers just get to chill in their pajamas all day and eat snacks. It's kind of true.
We also have the entirety of our work life entrenched in the very place we're supposed to go to escape all that nonsense.
Some of us are lucky enough to have a separate room or office that we work from. This helps a lot. Up until very recently I worked out of my bedroom, and I can't tell you how many times I rolled out of bed in the middle of the night to make some change or tweak that I just remembered I had forgotten to do during my "work day."
Now it's much better. I have a separate office on my property that allows me to physically distinguish between work and home. But I still bring my laptop in the house sometimes. And when I do that, the balance breaks.
How do we combat this?
Well, I don't know exactly. Sometimes I let the balance skew because I'm excited about something I'm working on. Sometimes it's because there's a stressful project I need to finish. The first reason is good, the second reason is bad.
Two thoughts:
1. Having a full, focused, uninterrupted day of work makes it much easier to stop when the time comes.
2. Having a hard stop (e.g. I'm quitting at 4:00 PM no matter what I'm in the middle of) is probably necessary.
The first point is absolutely huge. I've had days where I was not focused or constantly interrupted, and I'd finish feeling like I got nothing done, which made me want to keep working more. This leads to a kind of snowball effect.
The second point is just a matter of discipline. And I think it's easier to have a hard stop if you are able to stop feeling like you accomplished your goals for the day.
I know people think that remote workers just get to chill in their pajamas all day and eat snacks. It's kind of true.
We also have the entirety of our work life entrenched in the very place we're supposed to go to escape all that nonsense.
Some of us are lucky enough to have a separate room or office that we work from. This helps a lot. Up until very recently I worked out of my bedroom, and I can't tell you how many times I rolled out of bed in the middle of the night to make some change or tweak that I just remembered I had forgotten to do during my "work day."
Now it's much better. I have a separate office on my property that allows me to physically distinguish between work and home. But I still bring my laptop in the house sometimes. And when I do that, the balance breaks.
How do we combat this?
Well, I don't know exactly. Sometimes I let the balance skew because I'm excited about something I'm working on. Sometimes it's because there's a stressful project I need to finish. The first reason is good, the second reason is bad.
Two thoughts:
1. Having a full, focused, uninterrupted day of work makes it much easier to stop when the time comes.
2. Having a hard stop (e.g. I'm quitting at 4:00 PM no matter what I'm in the middle of) is probably necessary.
The first point is absolutely huge. I've had days where I was not focused or constantly interrupted, and I'd finish feeling like I got nothing done, which made me want to keep working more. This leads to a kind of snowball effect.
The second point is just a matter of discipline. And I think it's easier to have a hard stop if you are able to stop feeling like you accomplished your goals for the day.