One of the biggest hurdles that I had to overcome when I started working at home, was how to manage my time. With the noticeable lack of authority figures looking over my shoulder, and no network restrictions, you can imagine just how much time a person can spend just browsing the web. Then add to that the blossoming needs of a (at the time) 1 year old daughter. Then you can just sit back and watch those deadlines fly away (as well as your livelihood).
I must admit, at first I had fallen into the trap of thinking, "I'm working from home! I'll have tons of time to take on other projects and hobbies." That mindset didn't last long.
I had pretty much jumped, without a break, from my old company into my new lifestyle. That wasn't without it's bumps though. As the sole employee tasked with everything web-based in my old company, there wasn't really anyone who could readily take over my responsibilities. Even if we were able to hire someone new, just getting them familiar with the system would have taken longer than I had left with the company.
Being the nice guy that I am, I worked out an arrangement with my boss. I'd stay on retainer for a reasonable amount of time after I leave. Since they're a US company, I could commit my evening hours to their projects. I naively volunteered to set aside 20 hours a week for them for the first month. By the second week, I was about ready to hook myself up to a caffeine drip.
The following month saw a decrease in the number of hours, but even then, my performance suffered. We finally settled on my billing them for whatever hours I spend working on their projects, instead of just being paid for a set number of hours. Around that time, they had also hired someone local to do part time work.
The moral of that little adventure is, just because you have a stay-at-home gig, doesn't mean you'll have all the time in the world as you might think you would. Sure you'll probably lose the time wasted in the morning and evening commutes, but in my case, that was replaced by my daughter's morning rituals and other household chores. It's as time-consuming and draining as a regular 9-5 office job. There are undeniable perks (working in shirts and shorts in the middle of summer for instance), but bottom-line, it's still a job and you have to deliver.
Since then, to help me keep focused, I've taken to keeping near office-like hours when I work. There are days when I end up being almost completely free, and there are days when I'd be completely involved with work. But either way, keeping a schedule helps not only myself, but also my teammates in other locations.
An average day would have me up by around 7 AM. Breakfast and seeing to my daughter's needs should be done by 8:30 or so. Around that time, I'd be logging in to check work e-mail and see what the objectives for the day would be. Depending on the project, around 10am, I'd be in an online conference with my colleagues to give updates on whatever I'm working on. Lunch is pretty much always a full hour. After the dishes are kept, work is a marathon til 5, 6 pm, or until I hit my targets, after which, I start logging out and turning my servers off.
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