Doing Everything

Blog 11 of 30

Perhaps the most difficult thing about working from home is managing time. It is almost two full time jobs, so it became necessary for me to become more organised and efficient and creative in my use of time.

Most of the day-to-day work happened on schedule. The challenge came when it required a lot of concentrated effort for a few hours. I got into the habit of working late into the night when no one would disturb me and taking a short nap during the day. The disadvantage of course was if the phone rang, I would have to pick it up. There were no mobile phones to register missed calls. Answering machines were available, but most clients did not leave messages. They expected you to pick up.

I realised that thinking time could be used effectively. I learned to do my thinking, ideating, and planning in the kitchen. With two growing boys who were eternally “staaaaaarving,” I spent a lot of time in there anyway.  In fact, I still believe my most creative ideas came in the kitchen.

I also realised I was terrible at typing. I use what I am told is a “Columbus style of typing” – you spot it and land on it! I peck away painstakingly at the keyboard using two fingers! So, in the early years, I ended up using my recorder to dictate my proposals and design documents as my mind would race ahead of my fingers.

It seems a bit archaic – dictating stuff for someone to transcribe, but it just opened up huge swathes of time for me. Today a smart phone does the job when required and I still feel I do my best work in the kitchen stirring something on the stove, in a traffic jam in a car or even on a walk!

This ability to work everywhere was useful in later years. When parents and family were sick. I would often sit with a laptop in the hospital, ensuring that I was connected and on top of things.

The tough part was accepting that work was always going to intrude into the home. My husband is a nine to five a sort of guy and would look askance when I had client calls in the evenings. Clients though were not great respecters of home time. It meant I often had deadlines when I had to work over the weekend or even when we went on holidays. I grew used to it and learned to get in a couple of hours of work whenever required at a time when the family was busy elsewhere. It also taught me to anticipate and plan because I was a perfectionist and never wanted anyone to say I made a mistake because I worked from home! I was determined to prove that it was possible to do it.

The positive side of course, was realizing that if work intruded into home, home could intrude into work too. I never turned down a lunch or movie invitation from a friend even during working hours. I would work my appointments around it and head out whenever I wanted. I could always work at some other time of day and make up for it. There were even times that I took a day off simply because I needed to recharge my batteries.

Over the years there is one thing clear to me. If you are efficient enough you will find time for all the things you have to do. And once you have done that then you can find time for the things you want to do. Because the only way it works is if you do everything!