14 KEYS TO WORKING FROM HOME SUCCESSFULLY
CARMA SPENCE Copyrighted by Carma Spence
EDITOR, AUTHOR, SPEAKER, DIGITAL MARKETER, CONTENT DEVELOPER
Whether you have a traditional job in an office or own your own workat-home business, working from home productively is an important life, career and business skill. Telecommute and partial telecommute positions have been on the rise for years, but with the current COVID-19 pandemic, many people are having to adjust to working from home when they were used to working from an office. In this post, I’m going to share with you some work from home best practices that I’ve learned from research, talking to others and from more than a decade of personal experience. Many of the tips I’m about to share I learned the hard way. I have ADD, so maintaining focus and productivity while at home – especially during the years where I shared my space with an abusive husband – came with a lot of challenges. But I’ve jumped those hurdles and developed some ways to manage the numerous distractions that come with working from home. Perhaps, I’ll save you from jumping some of these hurdles.
thentic and try — or a bluff — anyway? Relationships Especially in these times of social distancing, it is important to nurture your relationships. Talk to people on the phone. Set up Skype or Zoom calls. Interact with people via social media. Don’t isolate yourself so much that you become a hermit. You need this not only for your sanity, but also because you may need your network for help, assistance, pointers, and more. Maintaining healthy relationships is never more important than when you work from home.
Apply the C.A.R.M.A. Code to Working from Home The C.A.R.M.A. Code is a set of “keys to success” in life and business, and they can easily be applied to working at home successfully. Creativity Mindset There is no one-size-fits-all guide to working remotely effectively. You have to experiment with the tips provided in this post, as well as other you learn from Internet research, friendly advice, and possibly even books. Some advice will work for you just as described. Some will work with some customization to your personality or situation. And some just plain won’t work. But you won’t know if you don’t try and apply your creativity to develop solutions that work for you. Authenticity This ties into creativity. You need to find telecommute tools and techniques that you can easily use. Don’t use methods and software just because I or someone else says they work. Try them out. Make sure they work well with your personality, situation, goals and technical know-how. And don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. We all have our strengths, as well as areas that we’ll never be great at. So why be inau-
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Working from home requires a different, yet similar mindset to working outside the home. To be productive, you’ll have to be your own accountability partner in many areas. And you’ll need to make yourself take the steps you need for self-care. I’ll go into these ideas a bit more later. Action Have you noticed that there is a common word used in the phrases “work from home” and “work remotely”? Yep, the keyword here is “work.” You need to actually take action to get things done! You’ll need to: Set and maintain a workable schedule Take breaks Answer emails Talk to people
