Work SmartrWe work hard so you can work smart.

photo credit: huzzahvintage

It’s the in thing in freelancing today. You have a home office. You work at home. You work from your bedroom. You telecommute.

If you have a day job, and you have to rush to the office before 8 a.m., and you need to run through the crowds downtown in a suit or high heels, chances are you envy those folks who can earn as much as you can (or even more) while in their shorts or nighties at the comfort of their living room.

But the moment you experience telecommuting, then you start shedding the formal workwear. You can now work in your pajamas, and you can still get things done. For all your client cares, you’re probably in your underwear, making those business calls, coding, designing or writing.

You try to tell yourself it’s a good thing you can run your business without having to think of your appearance. Or can you?

Do clothes make the man?

Sometimes, clothes do make the man (or woman). Even if you’re running a business from home, it doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have to dress up. For some people, dressing up involves pysching oneself for doing work. Even better, dressing up can mean psyching oneself for success.

I mean, have you ever felt sleepy or lazy during your telecommute workday because you’re in your sleepwear? Have you felt shy talking to clients on the phone or via email because you haven’t showered yet?

Working in your pajamas doesn’t necessarily make you less professional. But in some cases, it might make you feel less professional. You’re doing real work, after all. Why not try looking and feeling nice for the job.

You don’t necessarily have to wear a coat and tie at home. But wouldn’t it be nice to start your workday by showering, dressing in smart casuals, and grabbing a quick breakfast (or lunch or dinner, depending on your work schedule) before starting your work routine? It might get you in a more productive mood. It might get you into a more aggressive selling mood. It might help you close deals.

That’s unless you’re Hugh Hefner, which I seriously doubt.

Normally you would hear people sounding off that working from home is better than the office setting. Perhaps there is some sense to it but one thing that should be observed here is that of discipline. At home, you can choose to work and not to. You don’t have to worry about bosses roaming around and checking on you or finding the right position to relax. In short, you get the best of both worlds when you work from home.

But while that may be a dream to most, do remember that it can also affect you as a person. Not all people see the reason as to why it is harder to work from home. It is indeed something desirable but would you be productive when you choose to work from home?

The real answer lies on the person wanting to work from home. Ordinarily people fail to look beyond what it means to work at home and the consequences that arise from it. It is something new, especially for the people who have been working in an office setting. There will be some adjustment phases and on whether you would succeed or go down with it is something that may need thorough consideration.

Two thirds of workers would prefer to work from home, feeling they would be happier and more productive if they did, a new study has revealed.

Despite this, the survey by Plantronics found that three quarters of employees are offered no flexibility on where they work from by their job, reports the Press Association.

Source

I have always believed that we can do more than relying heavily on single jobs. While they are normally routine work, once you finish the usual 9 to 5 working hours, you normally want to get home and rest. Turn on the television and have your dinner and then go to sleep. But wait, isn’t there a lot of slack time here? Why not try to do something productive for a change.

Today, you have to work smarter and approach life by maximizing your time. This is not a requirement as taking on additional workload largely depends on a person’s drive to do more. Consider the time you eat, relax and sleep. You don’t normally need more than 12 hours to do all of these things.

For others, this may vary. People want a social life to build on and perhaps majority of it would be placed here. In short, not all people would consider being proactive and managing their time as important. As they say enjoy life to the fullest. You have a job and hence are earning. But the question is “Is it Enough?”

In this aspect, telecommute work or possibly doing some extra-curricular work as perhaps trading using the web would be a good recourse. We hear people doing it in eBay while others write for a living. There are a lot of things you can do to earn the extra buck. However before you start counting the greens, do remember to define your lifestyle. Forcing yourself into it will not reap any benefits and dividends for you when it comes to managing your time wisely.

A lot of people today are working in a telecommute setup. Or they run their offices from their own homes. It’s sometimes called a virtual office environment, and in these cases it pays to be smart with the tools you use. For instance, here are some questions to ask yourself, and some issues to address:

• How do you communicate with your colleagues when you rarely (or never) see face to face?
• How do you manage tasks, when you can’t physically be with your colleagues?
• How do you transfer resources (money, equipment, etc.)?
• How do you share documents and other information?
• How do you secure your files, information, and other such important material?
• How do you deal with regulatory issues (taxes, business registration, employment matters) when you and your colleagues are mostly in different parts of the world?

It gets more complicated, and I think people are still trying to work these out, since the freedom from geographical boundaries that the Internet has brought about is a fairly new thing.