Rules for Working from Home

Even though I moved to Charlotte, I was lucky (read: blessed) enough to be able to keep my job in Dallas, but work remotely. I am also lucky enough to have an actual office that I can go into on a regular basis and also lucky to have the flexibility to work from home when I want. Yes, overall, I lucked out in this situation.

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I have never had a job where I worked from home before, and knowing me, working from home can quickly lead to watching endless hours of TV, not showering for days on end, and not leaving the house for weeks.

Because of that, I gave myself some ground rules for working from home.

Rule #1: Accomplish something before logging on.
Since my coworkers are operating on Central Time, I start my day a little later, around 9:00 instead of 8:00. This gives me time to do something for me. Typically I work out for 30 minutes to an hour, make coffee, watch the Today show, and/or work on the blog. Sometimes I will put in a couple loads of laundry or get things prepped for dinner. It just helps me feel like work isn’t infiltrating my entire life.

Rule #2: TV off at 9:00 am.
Like I said earlier, it would be really easy for me to just sit in front of the TV all afternoon and accomplish very little. That’s why I have a hard stop on the Today show at 9:00. No ifs, ands, or buts. It also helps that there isn’t a TV in our guest room where my sweet desk area is. One less temptation.

Rule #3: Take a lunch break.
I break this rule more than any other. But I did the same thing at the office. Sometimes I will go out to the store or run an errand during my lunch. If I am just staying in, I try not to eat at my desk, but that usually doesn’t happen. It is just  nice to break up the day and not feel like you have been sitting in one place for hours and hours.

Rule #4: Take mini breaks to walk around.
It’s easy to forget how much walking I did in the office. To the breakroom, bathroom, up and down stairs, visiting coworkers. It added up. Now I just walk a few feet around my apartment. I have not been very good about this, but am going to try to be better. Every time I get up to use the bathroom, I am going to take 2 extra minutes to walk around. Or, if I have 5 minutes, I may go out into the stairwell and walk up and down a couple times.

Rule #5: Go outside at least once a day.
Staying inside a small apartment all day can get really depressing. And I don’t think its that healthy to be cooped up so much. I try to get outside at least once a day, whether that’s going for a stroll after dinner. Walking around the building during lunch. Whatever. The fresh air is good and it reenergizes me.

Rule #6: No one should be able to tell a difference between when I am working from the office or home.
I view working from home to be a privilege. My boss could easily tell me to go into the office every day and monitor my presence there, but she doesn’t. When I work from home, I work just as hard, if not harder, than if I were at the office. I try not to let household chores or other issues distract me. If I am being honest, I probably work harder and more hours at home than I do at the office.

Do you or have you had a job where you work from home? If so, what were the ground rules you gave yourself?

AND…

I’m sending out extra special Valentines to all my lovely friends, so if you would like to be included on that list shoot me an email at followtheruels {at} gmail {dot} com with the address you would like me to send it to Valentine in the subject line!