So, many of you know that my lease was up at my office building and I was trying to figure out what to do. I love getting up and going to the office but the hassles were outweighing the benefits. Especially since little Nick joined our family – I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by having to manage multiple locations. So I made a deal with myself. I renovated my house in order to put in a beautiful home office and I decided I was going to give it a try. I’ve put away my dream of the big glass tower with a hundred employees….tried that and hated it. What I have found has been surprising. Not only am I productive, I feel calmer, more organized and at peace.
But!! Wait – I have also come up with a list of things I needed to do, or remember, in order to make this work. Here they are:
1) I separated my space. I couldnt work on the dining room table or in the basement. So I set up a real office, complete with all the stuff I need and a door that closes.
2) I’m structuring my time. I don’t check my email immediately upon waking…not that I could with these little people running around….but I work when I’m at work and then I close the door and turn it off for the day. Sure I can be flexible…but I dont want my office to feel like it’s taking over the rest of my house
3) I’ve outsourced a ton of stuff. This past year I found a virtual assistant who is a jewel and many of my staff simply work from home. It is much easier to manage and bypass all the personnel drama that comes up. I’m a chatty person so it was often me distracting my staff from important projects (sorry guys!)
4) I dress the part. Yes I have tried working in my yoga wear and I must say – it doesn’t work for me. I feel sloppy and lazy and totally undignified. So I get dressed, drop the kids off and then head to work for the day
5) I set aside specific days for meetings. This has been great. I bank them all together and have full days of client meetings. That way the rest of the week can be focussed on getting work done. This has been excellent for me! No longer can I simply just meet up with a client or associate for lunch. If I’m feeling isolated – I could always do that but so far so good.
Sure I was a bit sad – thinking that I was giving up on a dream. But then I realized that my life was evolving, my priorities shifting and that I could accomplish a lot more by being more focussed. Who knows…maybe next year or the year after that – I’ll just buy a building..
But until then – I’m overlooking my beautiful pool and looking forward to the warm productive days of summer.
