subject: How To Reduce Stress In The Home Office [print this page] Stress occurs for many reasons, but we are more susceptible to it when we are not at ease; when there is too much to do or when there are too many difficulties. Although many people think that working for yourself must be less stressful than working for someone else, often the reverse is the truth. It is only when you work for yourself that you come to understand what stress the boss or office manager was under.
In a normal office, people have their own jobs to do and you have the tranquility (such as it is) to concentrate. However, when you work for yourself from home, firstly, you are on your own as far as tax, unions and stroppy customers are concerned, but you may also have the interruption of family, particularly children and a bored spouse. Or friends ringing you up to tell you to go for a drink because they think that you are working too hard. Sometimes, that is the last thing you want. Especially if things are not going as smoothly as you would wish. In the end it all adds to the stress.
Stress is certainly a killer, so if there is anything you can do to lessen your stress, you should do it. One of the best measures you can take to reduce stress is to organize yourself better. If you have to do housework, you might consider how much your time is worth, and if hiring a cleaner is the cheapest way of keeping your house tidy, then hire a cleaner. After all, there are only twenty-four hours in a day.
If it is feasible, get your family embroiled in your home business activities too. For example, if you are selling tangible items, you could get your spouse and even your kids involved with wrapping up your parcels and sending them off. If your children are too young, consider getting them a nanny or putting them in day care.
If you are new to your line of business and you want advice, but do not know where to turn, you could always join a few forums, so that you can share your experience and request advice from others who may be further down your road than you are. There are a lot of helpful, well-informed people on the Internet who are willing to help, as you should be too when you are able too. Often these individuals are in a somewhat different field to you, so they are not competition, but a great deal of things in business overlap.
It helps a lot of people to lessen stress by having a 'place of work'. This locale can be 'fenced off' or not depending on how you can ring-fence yourself. If you do not have a special room to go into, then you could arrange a screen or plants to delineate your own working space
Finally, endeavor to do today, what you can. Putting things off until tomorrow only increases the stress of tomorrow, but set yourself achievable goals, so that you do not become depressed about never concluding anything. This is very essential. Always leave your desk with the thought that you have done a good day's work; something that you would have been proud of, if you were still working for someone else. The more of these techniques that you can implement, the less stress you will feel in your new job at home.
