Stress occurs for many reasons, but we are more prone to it when we are not at ease; when there is too much to do or when there are too many problems. 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 tasks to do and you have the quiet (such as it is) to focus. 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 distraction of family, especially children and a bored spouse. Or friends ringing you up to tell you to go for a drink because they consider that you are working too intensely. Sometimes, that is the last thing you need. Particularly if things are not going as well as you would wish. In the end it all adds to the stress.
Stress is definitely a killer, so if there is anything you can do to reduce your stress, you should do it. One of the best precautions 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 method of keeping your house clean, 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 instance, if you are selling physical items, you could get your spouse and even your kids involved with packaging up your parcels and mailing them off. If your children are too young, think about getting them a nanny or placing 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 might 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 people are in a slightly different field to you, so they are not rivals, 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 finishing anything. This is very essential. Always leave your desk with the idea 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 apply, the less stress you will feel at your new profession at home.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is now concerned with office stress. If you are suffering from any kind of stress, please go over to our website now at Stress and Heart Disease
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