Day 5

Subject: [firstname]: Set boundaries when you work from home.

Hey [firstname]!

Today I want to cover something that was a big problem for me when I first started working from home, and that's setting boundaries. 

Just because you're working from home doesn't mean you're “at home”.  It can be tempting to do jobs round the house during working hours.  Don't. When you don't set clear boundaries, your home and working lives merge to the point that when you're at home you're always at work, and when you're at work you're always at home.

I learned this lesson the hard way. When I first started working from home I was easily distracted – after all, this was a novel experience for me.  The only trouble was: I'd get so far behind with my work, I'd have to keep working until late at night to catch up.  Then I'd wake up tired the next morning.  Before long I was feeling “burned out” and was starting to question whether working from home was such a good idea after all.

Then I decided to start setting boundaries and treating each weekday like a proper, working day.  Things soon improved for me – and they will for you, too.

Something that was a problem for me were friends “dropping by” during working hours.  They seemed to think that because I was home, I could socialize.

I'm sure you don't want to be rude, but it's a good idea to discourage people from doing this.

If you have kids, you'll need to set rules for when they're off school.  If your kids are young and would go to daycare if you went “out” to work, there's no reason why they shouldn't go to daycare now.  Older kids and teenagers can, of course, have more autonomy, but you should impress upon them that your home office is strictly “off limits” and you're not to be disturbed unless it's an emergency.

With proper boundaries in place, you're likely to become much more productive.

Talk soon!

[Your Name]

PS. There's still time to grab a copy of my working from home productivity guide.  Here's the link [link to sales page].
