After 7 years running the store in person, I recently switched to
spending most of my week working from home. This has been a huge
change for me, and has come with some amazing benefits but also some
unexpected costs.
When I work in the store, it helps me feel connected. I spend more
time with our employees and get to know them, and the same goes for
customers. I’m more socially involved, and have a better sense of what
our customers and staff are feeling overall.
On the other hand, I can’t get much done. Being so plugged into the
day-to-day conversations means it takes me way longer to complete
projects and work on the business, which isn’t great.
To try achieving the best of both worlds, I now split my time each
week with 2 days in the store and 3 from home.
That means I get to spend my in-store time focused on our customers,
having conversations, and keeping up to date on how the store is
running, while still having enough focus time to make progress on
growing the business and adding new features.
As I’ve been getting used to this new routine, I noticed a few
tricky trends:
Work and life can get blurry when you work from home,
It’s easier to get distracted at home,
It’s more isolating being at home so much,
I’m getting way more done overall
I’ve been working on ways around the costs of working from home, all
the while trying to maximize the gains I’ve gotten from it. Here are
the results of my own experiment.
Draw a Line Between Work and Play
Keep work to one place in the house whenever possible.
When I work from home, I don’t work on the couch, or in bed, or at the
kitchen table. I work at my desk. In fact, when I’m at home, work
stays at my desk.
Because having the same space for work and leisure can blur the
boundaries between when you should be working, and doesn’t provide the
cutoff point that commuting gives to your day, it’s extra important to
create that separation yourself.
To reinforce the habit, I keep my work stuff at/near my desk so I
don’t have to get up for anything. Then, when I’m done with my tasks
for the day, I step away. Literally. I actually move to a different
part of my house for a while, take a nap, or go out.
That way, there’s still the feeling of an “office,” so when I’m
relaxing on the couch watching Netflix later I’m not quite as tempted
to go back to work. I can unplug.
It’s not 100%, and that’s okay. I already would work on the business
at home before I transitioned to seriously, for real, working from
home. But by siloing each part of my life in this small way, I can
help manage my home environment and keep space for myself to relax and
unwind after a long day.
Avoid Distractions
It’s really easy to get distracted at home.
The store is a work context, meaning I expect to be working,
talking with customers, and getting things done. My employees are
working, too, which keeps me on track. Having that atmosphere around
me keeps me focused. Mirroring works.
By comparison, at home it’s so easy to drift away from a given task.
All my favorite belongings are around me. My personal computer is
right there with all its infinite distractions–social media, games,
personal files, art projects.
It’s ridiculously easy to start working on one thing, only to find
I’ve drifted off after browsing the internet or getting sidetracked following a rabbit hole.
To remedy this, I don’t work on my personal computer. I use my work
computer, instead, that doesn’t have the same distractions installed.
If you don’t have a separate device, you can try creating a work
profile on your home computer that stays strictly business.
I also cleared away all the distractions from my desk. No more art
supplies and sketchbooks. Those are in an art cubby. The desk is for
work during work hours, and that’s it. When I can’t reach for a
distraction, I stay better focused.
Pay attention to the things around you that end up pulling your focus
away from work. Those are the things to be careful around. Whatever
your distraction, and you will find one, stay mindful of its effect
and take steps to keep it out of your work environment.
Notifications
I traded in-store distractions for notifications. Now that I’m not
around as often, I get way more emails, messages, and calls. It’s like
a constant barrage. Managing notifications has become a much bigger
part of my day as a result.
Right away, I set specific times to check email: first thing in the
morning, after lunch, and right before I stop working for the day.
Group chat notifications get checked every couple of hours between
chunks of focused work so that I can stay more on-top of the team’s
needs, and I only let myself get pulled away if I’m specifically
tagged or if someone calls me. Since I do still have to be mindful of
the store, I can’t silence notifications altogether, but this at least
gives me some time for focused work where I’m typically uninterrupted.
Meetings
Let me start by saying: don’t schedule meetings in the middle of the
day if you don’t hate yourself. They’re distracting, and it takes way
more time to settle into work afterwards than you may expect.
If you’re like me, then you end up not wanting to start anything big
before the meeting, too, in case it runs long. It’s bad on both ends.
Instead, try clustering your meetings into one day if you can. You’ll
probably be tired by the end of the day, especially if you tend to be
more introverted, but it’s a way better alternative to having your
flow constantly interrupted.
If that’s not an option, I’m a fan of afternoon meetings. That way,
I have a few hours in the morning for focused work, separated by a
lunch break from when I need to switch gears into meetings and
preparation.
Stay in Touch With People
It’s easy when working from home to feel isolated, or at least
disconnected from the rest of your team.
While this doesn’t immediately relate to productivity, over time it
can drag you down. When you get lonely, or feel depressed, you’re
going to be less effective at work. This is one of those ways where
prioritizing your mental health can have a huge impact.
I solve this by making it a point to see friends and family more often
outside of work. Sometimes I’ll even take my lunch break to catch up
with a friend or mentor, and that helps energize me for the second
half of the day.
It helps, too, having someone to bounce ideas off. When I get stuck
and I’m at the store, I can get suggestions or brainstorm with my
business partners and employees. At home, a lot of the time it’s just
me. And I’m not a huge fan of talking to myself.
Because of that, I’ve gotten in the habit of calling one of my
business partners at least once a week so we can talk strategy and
recap last week’s performance.
At its best, this call lets us get onto the same page and plan
strategies. At worst, I get to catch up with someone I care about,
connect with him, and have a good conversation. It’s a win-win either
way, and I often come away from it feeling inspired.
It’s easy to feel isolated working from home, especially if you live
alone. Don’t let yourself fall into that routine, and make sure you’re
going out sometimes.
Get Some Serious Work Done
Working from home means the only thing in my way is myself most days.
I spent a whole heap of time detailing how I keep myself from ruining
my own productivity and stay focused, so now we can get to the fun
part: doing the best work.
At the start of the day, I check my email. A lot of the time it’s spam
or quick answers, but sometimes a new email leads to a new project.
With that in mind, I get into setting my todo list for the day. I
reference my planner and Trello boards (I have so many), the tasks
from my email, and any goals I’ve set the previous week, and fuse all
of that into one big todo list.
If it’s too much for a single day, I’ll break it apart and set tasks
for the following days ahead of time that I know I need to address.
Other times, I didn’t accomplish everything from the previous day, so
I’ll review my week and pull those tasks forward to the current list.
This process, mixed with a healthy dose of coffee, gets my head
screwed on straight and ensures I’m ready to get into it.
Then, I use the morning to crank through focused work. As the day goes
on, it’s natural to get sleepier and more distracted. That’s why I
focus on my most important work first. Then, even if the whole day
falls apart afterward, the biggest tasks are out of the way.
Being at home means more flexibility, which is fantastic. It means if
I’m exhausted one day I can sleep in a little, or take a short
mid-morning nap to fix my energy level before getting back into work.
It’s a huge perk. There’s no way I could nap at the store.
It also means I can take breaks when they make the most sense. Instead
of taking a break at the same time each day to work around my
employees, or being interrupted by a sudden wave of customers, I can
take breaks naturally between projects.
Spending 50 minutes designing our website and reaching a good stopping
point, for example, grants me 10 minutes of relaxation before the next
thing.
It’s amazing how big of a difference this flexibility makes.
Overall, working from home can be fantastic. You avoid the
commute, and get to be in a comfortable environment all day wearing
what you want and acting how you want.
The flip side is you have to keep yourself more accountable. I thought
I was already good at this, and was surprised to find how much more
easily distracted and chaotic my routine became when I didn’t have the
structure of going into the store.
Pay attention to where you stumble, and take steps to address
distraction, and I have no doubt your work from home journey will be a
huge success!
I’m still working on my new routine, but I can feel myself cresting
the hill. It’s a liberating feeling, and I believe that you’ll find it
in your life, too.