The Ups and Downs of Working At Home

The ability to control your working time, to watch your favorite shows in the morning and to not answer to a boss, this seems to be something everyone wants to have. With these in mind, the natural answer pops up: work at home. But is it really a good thing as we all believe? To be frank, that would depend on your mind set. Working at home may seem a breeze because you are in your natural environment, without the need to answer to anyone, wear stuffy uniforms and be on time. For most it is a dream come true.

However, this is not always the case. To be successful home based worker would require more than the usual perseverance and determination, especially if you have just transferred from an office to a home job. Before deciding to work at home, you might want to know some of these facts, tips and hints about what “home based” really means”.

Deadlines

Working at your own pace does not mean submitting work results whenever it suits you. Deadlines exist and they must be followed at all cost. So basically, it’s not all about “free time” as you seem to think. Rather it’s all about “juggling time” and meeting that deadline.

Your Own Time

It may sound good, but work at home is not for the lazy. You may lie around all day and you may watch your favorite soap, but not doing any work during the day may very well equate to working all night. This is a fact, with deadlines to meet, the boss is not required how you spend your day, just make sure the report is on his email tomorrow.

No Excuses

Yup, if there’s a power outage in your area, nobody cares. Just Meet The Deadline.

Work Stress and De-Stressing Yourself

Are you gaining or losing weight rapidly? Feeling emotionally unbalanced and consistently having body pains? Insomnia? You’re probably feeling the signs of work stress. It happens when you’re getting too enmeshed in your work that everything else becomes immaterial. Don’t let this happen to you as when ignored for prolonged periods, stress can be a real killer. Stress is usually brought on by too many overtimes, not enough free time and too much thinking about work problems in the future. Ergo, you may think that what you’re doing is best for the company, but the truth is that you could be damaging the business by damaging yourself. So let up on the overtime and rid yourself of stress. Here are a few things you should know to melt off the stress blues.

Exercise

– get rid of the pent up energy by exercising. Don’t spend it in front of the computer but rather take up a ten or twenty minute walk around a park or some greenery. It doesn’t really matter where, the important thing is that you get to stretch your legs and separate your thoughts from work. Get a bit of fresh air into your lungs and starts de-stressing yourself.

Relax

– Buy a good book and start reading your way into relaxation. Let the accumulated stress drift away by getting lost in a book somewhere. This would help you remove work off your mind and concentrate on something else that is “fun”.

Sleep

– sleeping is the best form of relaxation. It completely turns off your mind off work (unless you dream about work!). If you’re experiencing insomnia due to the stress, then you might want to take a few walks or do a little physical activity before eventually falling to sleep. This would relax your body and get it tired enough to be ready for bed. As much as possible, try to hit the sack at the exact time each day to slowly get rid of the insomnia.

Why Did You Leave Your Last Job? Answered

So you’re out of a job and the reason you left your last one was for reasons you’d rather not discuss, especially with your prospective employer. Let’s say you and your previous boss had a big argument resulting to your resigning in a flurry of anger. But the problem comes up when you’re applying for a new job and is being asked why you left your last one.

Now, if you were asked to fill out a form, the best thing to write there would be a “difference of opinion” between you and your boss. But once you’re asked to explain in detail, you might start to flounder.

In any case, remember the importance of a good reference. Along the way, you will need people who know how you work and the extent of your ability. So basically, the best choice would be to mend your fences and talk to your previous boss. Chances are he or she is also regretting the rash decision and might be even eager to talk to you. So you might as well pick up the phone and talk about what happened.

However, if you just can’t bring yourself to do this and there seems to be no other choice, then your best bet would be to be honest to your prospective employer. Give your account of the event but never, ever blame it on your previous boss. This might only be the cause of further rifts between you and your past boss, and it might be viewed negatively by the interviewer.

If you’re reluctant to do any of the above-mentioned things, then you just might want to give credible references that won’t be questioned by the interviewer. Credible references is sometimes enough for a prospective employer to make his/her mind without further asking about your past employment.

Friends in the Workplace

Office life is not just about work and overtime. As everyone knows, it also caters to our social life and s us to meet new people through officemates/workmates. However, it might be fun to explore the world of new friends in the workplace, but bear in mind that some “friends” aren’t exactly healthy for you. Although some may testify that having a harmonious and friendly working environment heightens the efficiency of workers, associating with the wrong ones can damage your career. So who are the “right” ones and the “wrong” ones? Read on and find out.

Constructive Critics

At work – or anyplace for that matter – there will always be someone who will criticize something that you do. However, the trick is to look for the one who honestly cares and gives constructive criticisms. No need to feel resentment over this person as sometimes, these “constructive critics” are really helping. Try to listening to some of them and you might find your work quality gradually increasing. And the best part? You get to return the favor.

The Old-Hands

It is never wrong to try to learn from the masters. This is why you should try sticking with them and learn a few tricks of the trade. Just because you already have a job doesn’t mean you don’t need a mentor. You still do, it’s just a different kind of mentor. The Old-Hands will be able to help you get through some of the highs and lows of your career since they’ve already gone through those things themselves.

The Gossips

Now these are the ones you might want to avoid. Although gossip is such a juicy part of the workplace, spending too much time doing it is a certain hazard to your career. Try to minimize this fault and maintain as little contact as possible with people who like to talk too much.