Will's Thoughtstream

Recently Wired had an Actually Work From Home When You Work from Home guide as part of their How To issue.

As someone who works from home three days a week, I was looking forward to reading their tips. But I was disappointed when I finally got to them. Here's a typical example of one of their tips:

1. Switch into work mode. It's hard to feel like a productive professional with flannel jammies, fuzzy slippers, and bed head. Get up, take a shower, and dress like you're actually going to work (because, hey -- you are).

Fun for the person who is new to working at home and likely to goof off, but not exactly helpful for the person who is dedicated to work, and wants to make working at home a success.

Here are my five tips:

1. Have an office space that is good for you to work in. The corner of the kitchen is fine if you like being there and if you have no kids or other people at home. And conversely, having a separate office space that is dark and dingy with an uncomfortable chair isn't going to work either. For me, given what I like and the kind of job I have, my criteria for a great working space are: plenty of ample light with a view of the outdoors; a large screen monitor; a good phone with a quality hands free headset and a dedicated phone line; and being out of sound, out of mind, and out of hearing of my small children who are home all day. I used to have a converted garage as a home office: it was ideal because I added a bank of windows to it for light, and it was a separate building, so I wasn't distracted by my kids, and they weren't distracted by me. Now I'm in a basement, which isn't as ideal from a lighting and view perspective, but I still have the separation I need from the children.

2. Use the time you save by working at home mindfully. When you work at home you can save yourself the time and expense of commuting (an hour for me, round trip). You can also save the time it takes to shower and get all fancy for work. (Yes, I'm part of the "it's not necessary to shower if you don't feel dirty and you're not going to see anyone camp".) That's 90 minutes I get back into my day. How are you going to use that time? I suggest that this should be a mindful decision you make each day you work at home. Have a big project you want some extra time on for work? Great, use it for that. Need a little break, and want to go to a coffee shop? Great, do that. Want to lunch with your kid? Do that. Whatever you choose, just choose with intention. The result is that you'll feel more satisfied with your day. You'll be able to point to that extra thing you got done, that you chose to do, and that you enabled by working from home. Creating a sense of satisfaction with yourself and your day will make you happy and productive all day long.

3. Give yourself breaks. If you're like me, you probably get way more done on your days working at home. There are less phone interruptions, less people walking into the cube/office interruptions, and less distractions of things going on around you. Not to mention the time saved getting lunch, the time saved packing and unpacking your laptop, etc. I feel that I often get about 50% more done at home. But working every minute of every day will lead to burnout. If you do get burned out, soon you will find yourself needing Wired's advice to avoid the TV, XBox, and bong when working at home. So instead of burning out, instead choose to reward yourself on a regular basis. Make sure you do go for a walk at some point. Do take some time to go out for coffee. Again, you'll be more refreshed and productive if you do.

4. Have an effective system for managing email and prioritizing work. If you're working at home, odds are good that your jobs involves plenty of email. That makes it all the more important to have an email system that keep you on top of your email and prioritizes your work. I'm fond of Dave Allen's Getting Things Done book, but I'm sure there are plenty of good systems out there. Pick one, just one and stick with it.

Here's how I've taken Dave Allen's system and made it work for me:

• At least once a day, I spend 15 minutes thinning out my inbox. Alternating between sorting by sender and sorting by subject line, I clean out the stuff I easily know I can get rid of.
  
• At least once a week, I spent about an hour going more through my inbox. For each item, I either delete it, file it, take action on it if i can do that in less than 2 or 3 minutes, turn it into an action item, or defer action on it. I usually turn items into an action item simply by editing the subject line. "RE: operations concept" turns into "TODO: Read operations document and give feedback by email". Between these two top items I can usually keep my inbox to 100 items or so.
  
• Every other week, I spend about 4 to 5 hours on a Friday morning exhaustively going through my inbox. The goal is to get through all those items I was deferring. at this point, I still go through delete, file, take action, or make actionable, except that now I take action on anything that takes less than 10 or 15 minutes, and I don't defer anything, no matter how complex. By the time I'm done, I'm usually left with 10-20 action items in my inbox.
  

With this system, I'm able to stay on top of my email, and make sure nothing falls between the cracks. The leaner I keep my inbox, the more productive I am.

5. Save hobbies for later. Some activities are just too compelling for us to engage in during the work day. For example, even though I reward myself with breaks and outings, I would never do something like pick up a sci-fi book to read. That would be the end of my day. Similar, if you've got something you're passionate about, whether it's reading or gardening or building model rockets or even going to the gym, then the work day is probably not the right time to do that. No matter how disciplined you think you are, engrossing activities will make you lose large blocks of time, and you'll spend the rest of your time stressed out over the time you lost.