Working from Home: Top 10 Tactics

I've come to the sad realization that working from home is Not For Me. I was so excited for the uninterrupted freedom of July and August—no classes to teach, just wide open space and TIME to read and write and dissertate. Now that I'm coming to the tail end of it, I am so ready to jump back into a busy scheduling of commuting, teaching, meetings, non-cat people to talk to, a reason to put real clothes on, etc.

I suppose I wouldn't mind working from home if I didn't actually have to stay at home. I do love the "working alone but together"ness of a coffee shop or a bookstore. But the no-teaching-in-July-and-August thing means no paycheck in July-and-August, and yes, even a $2 cup of coffee would strain my current budget (the $4 latte is so beyond my current imagination that I can't even). Besides, the $2 cup of coffee inevitably leads to a $2 guilt-induced refill, and maybe a $2 cookie for dunking, and multiply that a few times a week and do you know how many books that could buy? Books that I've renewed from the school library for months at a stretch? Books covered in post-it notes because I can't write in them? Books that I'd have to lug to and from said coffee shop? I can't. I'd love to but I can't. At least not now, when there is no paycheck until September. In September I'll buy a latte which might get me 2 hours in a coffee shop before I start getting the side-eye.

What was I talking about? Oh, home. Home. In July I made a schedule and I made sure to set my alarm and eat proper meals at proper mealtimes. I showered in the a.m. and put on real clothes.

Now, August 23, a week and a half away from the fall semester, and I've devolved into staying up way too late reading novels, ignoring my alarm, staying in my pajamas because why not (or trading my pajamas for equally shapeless and comfortable clothing in a slight nod to Respectable Adult Living), smearing tortilla chips with blueberry-vanilla goat cheese and calling it lunch. I take an exercise break every day but that doesn't seem like enough.

And I'm surrounded by quiet. Just me and the window fans. I wish I could work to music and I've tried every Pandora station I can think of, but I can't.

So I present you to my personal Working from Home Top 10 Tactics, including the ones I've tried and the ones I've tried and have since obviously ignored.



1. Set daily goals so the work has a tangible start and end point.

2. Find and use various productivity apps, like charting your daily work into iDoneThis. Then you can look back and see how long a task took or what the heck you spend July doing in the first place.

3. Allow time to relax when your goals are met (i.e., STOP working and go read a novel, cook something, or catch up on summer TV).

4. Go for a short walk when your mind absolutely won't focus.

5. Use a makeshift "standing" desk to read or send emails from (I still can't write standing up—too distracting).

6. Set a timer. I use mytomatoes to work for 25 minutes on/5 minutes off.

7. Make your bed. It helps, I don't know why.

8. Ughhhh fine, get dressed (do as I say, not as I do...).

9. And yes, one should probably go to bed and wake up at consistent times.

10. Vary your workspace. Today, for instance, I'm in my living room instead of my office. In here I get a nice breeze and lots of natural light. If you're ambitious, take your computer outside (Although I don't know how people do that what with the glare, I have a colleague who has gotten lots of writing done at a public park.) There you go, a mini-field trip.

I am ready for the new-ness of fall and a workaday schedule. Does anyone have any good tips for working from home? I have a few more days to go. Does "doing laundry" count as a sustainable break? Is there anyone else out there??

House Beautiful via The Aestate Tumblr

(This is what my brain feels like)