Working from home has its ups and downs.
Here are some proven ways to boost your success working from home.
While there are many benefits to working from home, it can also have some serious challenges. For example, distractions are one of the biggest issues for remote workers. To make matters worse, sometimes those distractions aren’t even your own fault! Sometimes family members forget that you’re at home and call or pop over unannounced (or even worse—on purpose).
In this post we’ll cover some other potential challenges that you might face when working from home: too many meetings and conference calls; lack of motivation; not having a commute; too much time on social media; etcetera
Distractions
Distractions are a fact of life. You can’t control what happens around you, but you can choose how to react. After all, distractions are just opportunities for new ideas and perspectives.
Here are some tips for dealing with distractions:
- Take time for yourself. Make sure to check in with yourself throughout the day, even if it’s just for 10 minutes of meditation or taking a walk outside. This will help keep you grounded and productive!
- Stay focused on your work at hand by setting an hourly reminder on your phone that tells you when it’s time to take a break from your computer screen. Get up from your desk chair so that all those important muscles don’t go numb while sitting down all day long.
- Keep track of what tasks need doing when they need doing by making lists as often as possible. When working at home this includes shopping lists too! That way nothing slips through the cracks while getting lost among other things going on around them instead. Then follow through with these schedules accordingly so nothing gets put off until tomorrow…or worse yet never actually gets done at all! It’s important not only because these deadlines may affect others later down line. Sometimes procrastination causes stress levels to skyrocket due lack self confidence about being able–or worse yet unable–to do something well enough before the deadline arrives. That leads us straight back into our old behaviors again without giving ourselves enough time
Finding motivation
Keeping yourself motivated is a challenge as well. It’s easy to get distracted, especially if you’re working from home. Your kids might need you, your significant other might want some attention and your mother’s call might come in at an inopportune moment.
Setting goals is a great way to stay motivated while working remotely. You should set goals that are achievable and measurable so that you can keep track of how far along your progress is with each goal. This will help keep you focused on what needs to get done instead of focusing on what could happen or what did happen.
Not having a commute
One of the biggest challenges of working from home is not having a commute. The average American worker spends 165 hours a year in traffic, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. That’s more than three full days! In contrast, employees who work from home save about $10,000 every year on gas and car maintenance costs. If you live in Los Angeles or Washington D.C., those savings could be even higher (or lower).
So why do people love commuting so much? For one thing, it gives them an excuse to leave their homes and interact with other human beings—something they might not always want to do otherwise. Commuting also gives people time to reflect on their lives and make plans for how they want things to become better in their future. Studies show makes people happier.
Too many meetings and conference calls
Working from home is a great way for you and your team to work together more efficiently. You can still be productive when you have meetings or conference calls, as long as you don’t mind some background noise while everyone else is talking. If there are pauses in the conversation, use them as an opportunity to get work done!
Family interruptions
One of the most difficult aspects of working from home can be keeping your workspace consistent. This is particularly true if you work from home full time, but it is also an issue for people who work in the evenings or on weekends. When you have a spouse and children at home, it’s easy for them to wander into your office or bedroom without knocking and interrupting what you’re doing.
- Set boundaries with family members about when they should respect your privacy.
- Set a schedule each morning with specific times that are off-limits for family activities (e.g., 8am–10am).
- Make sure that your workspace is as private as possible. This includes having locked doors, soundproofing material (such as foam panels) along the walls and ceiling, etc…
Working from home can be a challenge but it is also rewarding.
The benefits of working from home can be rewarding, but not for everyone. Working from home can allow you to spend more time with your family and loved ones. However, it could also force you to cut back on your social life.
- You can work anywhere
- There is no commute
- You don’t have to wear pants (or anything at all)
Conclusion
That’s it for our list of challenges of working from home. We hope you enjoyed reading about them. Hopefully we have given you some insight into how to deal with each one. If you have any other challenges that we didn’t mention, please let us know!