What 16 years working from home taught me
In 2004, my wife Patty and I decided to homeschool our autistic son as a team because we knew he would need more help when he entered high school. I spent 20 years in corporate America, working for both Accenture and Microsoft, but in the fall of 2004 I became their part-time math and science teacher and spent the rest of my time doing business consulting and writing books. .
Until then, he always had a client or an office to go to. With the change to homeschool teacher/author/consultant, she now had nowhere to go every day. My office was our game room where we study at home, our home office, or the local coffee shops. It was definitely an adjustment and I learned a lot about how to be effective without going to a job site. Now I can’t imagine it any other way.
In 2020, millions of people were quickly forced to work from home. When I started working from home sixteen years earlier, I had the advantage of preparing myself for my new life, a stark difference from those who suddenly found themselves in work-from-home mode with little warning or preparation. Some aspects of 2020 versus 2004 were easier and some more difficult, for example the collaboration tools available in 2020 simply didn’t exist in 2004. But the bottom line is that the changes were massive and required significant adjustments.
In my 16 years of not having an office I experienced a lot of bumps and bruises to get into an effective work/life rhythm. The key to my learnings was the need to impose greater self-discipline on:
- what I do,
- How do I manage my time?
- what and when how,
- how long i sleep
- when and how do i exercise,
- how do i “turn off work”
- and how I interact with others.
It’s those bumps and bruises that I want to help others avoid by switching to a sustainable work-from-home lifestyle, which I’ve summarized in five lessons:
- Master the online experience – For Pete’s sake, if Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other online meeting tools are an integral part of your business, take the time to really understand them and make sure the hardware you’re using creates the most positive experience for others who attend their meetings. Not knowing how to do things like share your screen, give others control to share your screen, or use an electronic whiteboard is akin to coming face-to-face with a business partner in a coffee shop with loud music and no chairs or tables. When you fumble for tools, you send a clear message to your recipient that he or she isn’t important enough for you to create an outstanding online experience. Just as important, struggling with online meeting tools conveys that you’re slow to adapt to change.
- Plan for “Done” not “Do” – Every Monday morning I go through my to-do list and decide what I plan to do by the end of the week. I then plan time on my calendar throughout the week to work on each to-do, then schedule a meeting on Friday at 5pm to summarize what I have committed to doing that week. The key to this is to phrase your to-do list in terms of a deliverable or “done,” not in terms of an activity or “to do.” If you think only in terms of activity, you’re more likely to measure success in terms of how much time you spend doing something versus actually doing it.
- Put everything on your calendar – In my article “I can’t keep up!” Six Principles for Using Your Calendar to Get More Done I talk about how to use your calendar not just as a work thing but as a life thing. This is particularly important when you work from home because work start/end events, such as commuting to and from work, no longer exist. With those barriers gone, it’s much easier to be less respectful of your own time. I’ve had to learn that working from home doesn’t mean you can work anytime; it means I had to be a lot more disciplined about when it would work and when it wouldn’t.
- Set clear expectations with your loved ones – Working from home does not necessarily mean that you are always accessible. Having very clear expectations about when you will work and when you won’t is crucial to your overall effectiveness. Patty and I send each other meeting notices for social gatherings or other gatherings where one of us won’t be available for the other. This works really well to keep us aligned and ensure we don’t over-commit.
- Make physical and mental health a priority – While working from home offers great benefits, it also means you have to be more diligent about taking care of your physical and mental health. I never stay in my pajamas during the day, schedule exercise time on my calendar, eat outside of my work station, follow a regular sleep schedule, and *try* to be disciplined about snacking between meals. I also weigh myself regularly. This really helps if you want to maintain or reduce your weight and if you tend to wear stretchy clothing that doesn’t remind you if you’ve added an inch to your waist.
For many, working from home can be a long-term, if not permanent, reality. Consider these five lessons to help you design a sustainable and fulfilling work-from-home lifestyle.