Category list

Chapter 4. The 247 Lifestyle: Time Management in the Home Office

I l @ ve RuBoard

Chapter 4. The 24/7 Lifestyle: Time Management in the Home Office

If you used to (or still do) work in an office five days a week, you probably worked from nine to five or some variation of that, and perhaps worked overtime as necessary or brought work home to review at night. Alas, for the American worker, we don't do siestas, and we don't stroll into the office at ten o'clock ”on a good day ”like some of our European counterparts. Even the term "24/7" is uniquely American. Between beepers and cell phones, lap top computers and e-mail, it seems we're often expected to work around the clock, and to be accessible at any hour , day or night.

Enter the home office. Now we have an entirely new concept of "the office." With this home office and the 24/7 nature of life, let's explore how to manage those 24 hours in a day when your desk is just a 60-second commute away.

I l @ ve RuBoard

Time Where Does It Go?

Just as in the corporate office, where a busy morning will make the day fly by, the workday in a home office disappears into a vortex of time. From the moment each of the authors wakes up, to long after everyone else goes to bed, we're on the move.

The American work week isn't really 40 hours at all. Despite computers and technology, which were supposed to help us cut down on our time in the office, the average work week creeps upward and upward. According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, the average U.S. employee works a 46- hour work week. And a whopping 38 percent of U.S. workers clock in at more than 50 hours a week.

Mornings, for us, are the off-to-school rush, and our days are filled with high-intensity work plus all the errands and chores of an average family. We can go from the "high" of sealing a big deal to the mind-numbing boredom of folding laundry in 60 seconds flat, because all that housework is just a step away. Because neither of us typically gets eight hours of uninterrupted work time, let alone the 10 or more hours professionals sometimes need when work piles up, we have to go back to "the office" after dinner or after our kids are in bed. We have to find this extra time, and coffee has become a nocturnal mainstay.

Don't get us wrong: We appreciate that the home office allows us a unique advantage to choose hours that work for us, or to sometimes work these late hours when family demands dictate that we do. We're not alone in dividing up our time, either. In interviewing people for this book, we found many compatriots who split their days because of children and spouses, or caretaking elderly parents. We also found a majority who had to work late hours because the "home" in the home office equation pressed in on their work time and they had to make up for that. Many people discover being a home office worker can mean a heavier schedule than they imagined when they set up that office in the spare bedroom. You can guard against this with good time management skills and being organized from the very beginning.

I l @ ve RuBoard

Organized from the Start

While we cover organization skills and ideas in the next chapter, precious time can be wasted by lack of organization. One tip we want to pass on here, though, is to try to envision organization in your home office from the very start. If you already have a home office established, you may want to spend the time to implement these ideas, because in the long run, they will shave minutes and more off your workday .

Set up a FedEx, UPS , or overnight carrier service account if you ever use them for your business. Spend 15 minutes on the phone or on-line once, get your account, have them ship supplies right to your doorstep, and you won't have to waste time again. Don't ever sit "on hold" with FedEx or any of the other carriers . Once you are set up, you can do it all on-line, efficiently and quickly ”that includes scheduling pickup, tracking packages, and ordering supplies.
Have a postage scale and postage supplies on hand so you don't waste time on line at the post office. Again, go to the post office once and get all the supplies you need, along with rate sheets, and you won't have to waste time there again. This is especially important in the months of November and December, and around the dreaded income tax deadline date in April when lines at the post office are at their longest.
Consider, depending on your mail volume and the nature of your business, getting a postage machine for bulk mail.
Consider paying your bills on-line.
Organize your filing cabinets and shelving systems from the start so information is at your fingertips.
Whatever office supplies you use, keep them well-stocked so you don't run out at deadline time.
If you regularly send clients flowers, establish an account at a florist you can trust and pre-select choices that you like. Or set up an account online at one of the national florist companies.

I l @ ve RuBoard

Buy on amazon.com >>

Orloff E., Levinson K.

<< Previous page

Table of contents

Next page >>

Flylib.com

Category list

Similar pages

Chapter 4. The 247 Lifestyle: Time Management in the Home Office