The Printing Rooms is now live - great news - have a look: www.theprintingrooms.com. During the period of going live I moved my studio to my spare room and there are definitely pros and cons. I thought I'd make this entry helpful for those of you who are working from home, and share my 'tips' and my moans about it... and, for anyone in the same boat, I would love to hear your secrets for a happy working life from home.
Firstly, the internet. Lovely lovely, helpful, informative, distracting internet. Whole days can be wasted away on the internet, so my tip is to turn it on first thing, check, update, research, and then switch it off - turning computers on and off is a pain, so you're less likely to be drawn to it. (I never stick to this rule...ever, so maybe this wasn't the best tip to start with..).
Tidying your space/desk - now this really does work for me. Even if I have spent a good 14 hour day working in my studio from home (which I have in the run up to the website going live), I will still spend a good chunk of time clearing and tidying my space before I hang up my rollers for the evening. I could easily waste a day cleaning the studio if I let myself, so doing it at the end of a day is a good motivator to get it done quickly and prepare for the next day. It also means there are no excuses the next morning. It's now so ingrained, it's become as much a part of my day as finding ways to avoid doing work!
Managing your time - lists. I have made lists that were entirely impossible to complete, but after a month or so of doing it regularly I now have a good system. At the end of each week, I will write out a list of tasks for the week, but each evening/morning I will write out a list of tasks for the following/ that day. This way, I know exactly what needs to be done and when - I do switch around and re-write lists, so nothing is set in stone. The daily task list then has more focus on the exact requirements. For example, weekly task list might have: 'finish Heart plate', but the daily list for a Monday might say, 'draw plate, cut plate, test-print plate'. The more you put on the more you can cross off (Is that cheating? I've stopped short of writing 'get up, shower, have breakfast etc'... only recently). (another good tip is to have a task list for a project, i.e. every single task that needs to be done towards completion, so that you can refer to that so you don't forget anything)
Managing your time, deadlines - Cons, tendency to put too much pressure on yourself. Pros, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week of being able to work at your own pace. Cons, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week to have no excuse not to work. As a home-worker you need to be self-motivated and organised, and you need to set yourself deadlines. The best approach is to be realistic. When I chose a date for the site to go live, it was all systems go, and at times it was touch and go about whether I'd get it done on time. It's often much easier to work towards someone else's deadline. When it's self-imposed it's easier to let yourself down.. so pick a deadline, and stick with it and don't let others talk you out of it.
Office-politics - there is none, hurray!
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