Let’s take a moment to talk about working from home. There are many pros and cons that you need to consider when deciding to work from home. I personally love it. It can be challenging at times, but I think the pros exponentially outweigh the cons. I am sure this topic is up for debate. My goal here is to share with you some helpful information about my experiences and what I have learned from others about working from home.

Online teaching is a job that you will do at home. You do not have an office at a school. Your home becomes your office. When I first started working at home full time, I gained 20 pounds and sat in front of the TV all day with my laptop. That was not the best idea. I realized that my work was suffering and I needed to find a new approach. I discovered that I needed to make myself “go to work.” Instead of sleeping in every day, I set a time that I need to be to work and time for lunch. I also set a time when work would hopefully be competed for the day. Once I shut the TV off and started working in my office, I was able to concentrate better and actually get more work done than I had before.
Let me share a few of the pros and cons that I feel there are about working at home.

Let’s start with the cons.

For some reason or another, people do not take the fact that you work at home seriously. What I mean by that is, they think that just because you are at home that you are not working. Of course, that is not the case. This was a struggle that I had in attempting to explain this to my wife. She would schedule repairs to be done on the house or for people to come over while working. Did I mention, that she did not tell me about it? As you can imagine, it can be very distracting to try to grade papers while there is someone hammering away outside your office window. This is now an issue that my wife and I have worked out and we communicate with each other. Working from home does allow you to make those appointments that would normally cause issues, but it makes it much easier to schedule them around your schedule. If you are having issues with your friends and family not taking this seriously, I would recommend explaining to them the importance of your job and that your home is your office.

Another issue you may run into is that is very difficult to separate yourself from work. You are always at your office. If can be stressful to mix your personal work with your professional. There are a few solutions to this. First, if you have the space in your home, make a home office and leave it when you are done with your work. Try to stay away from it. Personally, I do not have that option; my house is not that big. I need a place that I can work and still do personal projects. What I do is make sure that when I am done working for the day that I am done. Shut off the email, put away the to-do lists and get that work out of there. I found it helpful to create a separate profile on my computer so that I can switch between work and personal information. This will also prevent you from having the video from your sons’ football game mixed in with you teaching work.

Next, is the issue of being lonely. I have never had this issue. I have never been one that is big on office politics and I do not need that social aspect of work. I just want to get my job done and move on with my life. Working from home allows me to focus on my work and get it done. Then I can spend more time on the more important people in my life, my family and friends. While you do need to be a self-starter and be disciplined to work from home those are a few issues that can cause problems. For those who do get lonely, you may want to consider getting involved in other group activities, be it taking a fitness class, joining a book club or even the PTA at your child’s school. The point is, there is really are no lack of group activities to supply that needed interaction so that you can work at home and still feel that you have a group.

Let’s take a look at a few of the many positives.

You can save money on gas and the wear and tear of your car. I have cheaper car insurance because I drive my car less. Working from home may also serve as a quick fix for childcare. You do not have a boss that is micro-managing you or looking over your shoulder. You can have more family time. If this means adjusting your schedule, then do so. You can work from anywhere…well almost anywhere (you need an internet connection). You can set your own schedule and work the hours that best suit you.

Those are just a few of my top benefits of working from home.

Here are a few tips to consider when working from home:

• Have a defined workspace.
• Set regular hours.
• Get dressed for work. This will help you act the part.
• If other people are there, close the door.
• Shut off that cell phone if you need to get work done.
• Have a good chair.
• Exercise. Try getting up every hour and stretching or do 10-20 push-ups. Keep the blood flowing
• Take breaks. It can be easy to not give your brain a break.
• Limit distractions, like TV or music.
• Try getting noise canceling headphones. Well worth the money!
• Keep track of your time and when you work.
• Finally, be happy that you are at your home, not stuck in a cubical!

The decision of whether to work from home or at a traditional job is one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Individuals who work from home need a tremendous amount of self-discipline. But even someone with a modest amount of self-discipline may want to consider working at home if issues like equitable pay and spending time with children rank highly on a personal level. I tried to be unbiased while covering the points above. If I need to lay down my honest opinion, it would be quite in favor of working from home. I believe that the pros far out weight the cons. In fact, I also think that over the next years, we will see more people working from home in some fashion.