by Marco Angioni II

Created on: April 02, 2008   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

If you are at a position in your financial life that you are able to work from home, you have reached a goal that many people hope to reach one day. However, even though working from home has many advantages, there are also many disadvantages to working at home. When working at an office, there are vey little distractions to side track you from your work. Additionally, because there is usually a schedule in place at an office, everything is timed out. Thus, deadlines are easier to meet and there is no false sense of "forever" when it comes to certain projects. However, if you work at home, there can be many distractions (television, radio, kids, etc.) that could end up causing you to maintain a more relaxed time schedule. As such, things that need to be finished may end up taking longer than planned.

If you work at home, you want to make your work space as comparable to an office setting as possible. Doing so will enable you to remain focused on the tasks at hand. However, like with work in an office, the time will come when you will have to take a break.

Breaks in the office are usually timed. For example, you get one hour for lunch, maybe a fifteen minute coffee break, and (as your situation calls for it) a few bathrooms breaks. Therefore, everything remains structured and because it is an office setting, there are few distractions to prevent you from going back to work when your break is over. On the other hand, working from home can create many distractions that may cause you to take a longer break than normal. As such, you fall behind on your work. Additionally, because you have a full kitchen and a big television in the very near vicinity of your office, your breaks at home could start to become a problem.

Although the point of working from home is to relax a little bit and not be stressed due to common office pressures, this does not mean that you can refrain from working and still expect money to come in the door. Therefore, if you find that you were more productive in an office, you should form your work schedule and behaviors around such an office model. You still get the comforts of home, but you will also get the benefits of productive office work.

The point is, do not take advantage of your situation. Be happy that you get to work from home, but do not abuse this comfort by slacking in your work by taking too many breaks or by taking breaks that are too long.

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