I LOVE working from home! Now, a little disclaimer: I have only worked in an office situation when I had part time jobs through Uni (for a graphic design print agency + at the University of Auckland as their assistant photographer), so I haven’t properly experienced the 9-5 job, year in, year out. But even on the days where I long for work colleagues, I hope nothing will ever take me away from working at home! When we first moved to Melbourne, I worked from the corner of our living room, for a year and a half. It certainly wasn’t without it’s challenges, but was actually completely doable. At the moment, I’m blessed have a separate office space at home, I’m so thankful to now be able to close the door at the end of a workday.
Working from home is definitely not for everyone! There are days where I totally lack motivation, I get lonely, and I wish I had a boss to whip me into line! Over the last 5 years, I’ve worked from home pretty solidly and there are some essentials I need to stay focused, committed and disciplined in my work day at home, while continuing to love my job and get dressed each day! I was going to include my essentials in one blog post, but it would be a pretty long post… so I’m breaking it up into about 5 different parts over the next few weeks.
PART ONE: A gym membership + classes.
For me, going to the gym is so much more than the exercise component. Before joining, I would always go for a daily run, then do some pilates or yoga at home, so I’ve always been pretty active. Now when I go to gym classes, it’s not only pushed my fitness levels, it’s also just SO nice to be around other people in the classes! Having contact with other people at the gym is now such a vital part of my workday. It can get really lonely when you work from home, so getting out the door and into a class with others has been awesome. I usually go to 4 classes a week (Pump, Body Attack, x2 Spin) and sometimes I don’t talk to anyone, but just being around other people is really nice and I’ve noticed a HUGE difference in my energy and focus levels throughout the day.
Do you work from home? What are some struggles you have? I’d also love to hear about the essentials you need for a productive workday! xx
Totally agree! I LOVE working from home too – but it definitely does have it’s challenges too. We have been renovating a downstairs office & client meeting space downstairs since we moved in at the beginning of the year – and we are about a week off moving office down into there!! SO excited, because my office has been in the lounge too… which has worked fine, but I have not been able to separate work and life at all. It’s so easy to sit at the computer all day and all night when I have heaps to do. Especially over wedding season, I found I really needed to get out of the house to relax, like going out for dinner or a walk with my husband.. otherwise I couldn’t relax and focus on him. Can’t wait to be able to close the door, come upstairs and not go back down again at the end of the day! I have also just joined a gym again, and loving just getting out and about with other people. I always think about your blog from ages ago about getting up and getting nicely dressed at the start of the day too – trackies aren’t motivating enough ;)
Hi there
I study at home, doing distance learning, and i definitly find that going to the gym helps me, what also helps is i can make / cook my lunch, gives me a good calming break and then im back into it.
Exercise is such a fantastic distraction from work too. I don’t have time to think about anything business-y when I’m taking classes, so it’s really a workout for the brain as well! Love that you’ve seen a difference in your energy/focus!