Become a
Home-Based Travel Agent

Home Based Symptoms and Cures
By: Joanie Ogg CTC MCC

Working from home can be so great and yet it does have it’s own set of challenges and symptoms that perhaps bring about some home-based diseases over time. No, I don’t think there is likely a real medical term for any of the illnesses or symptoms of possible illnesses we will discuss here, however they sure are real to me in my workday from time to time.

Symptom 1 – “The Where Was I”

It’s that sense you get when you leave your desk to do something else and when you come back you cannot for the life of you remember what your were doing or where your thought process was. It is tough to get it back. The good news is I think I have found a cure! 

So here is the scenario that may ring true for you too. I am busy working on a project, perhaps an article or an important email document to send to the members. I am deep in thought and really focused (or so I think) and all of a sudden the dryer alarm goes off. Yes, it rings true and tells me I better get in there and fold the laundry before it sets to wrinkling causing ironing to be the result of my lack of attention. Ironing is certainly a curse for me. So off I run to quickly fold and hang the clothes in the appropriate closets in our house. Well, I am in the laundry room area, so I will quickly toss in the dark clothes and do another load. Get my drift here? Yes, this is the cause for this distraction disease. How do we cure this often common ailment and so many others that may afflict us from time to time.

This article will not be new news to many of you but just reading about it really does help in the cure. Simply reminding ourselves that we need to work to avoid any and all distractions and anything that makes us less than productive and satisfied in our work world is a beginning to the cure.

Syndrome Symptom 2 – Procrastination

Having a schedule or lack of a schedule can sometimes seem like one of the best things about working from home. Often the project that is the most challenging and difficult to address is the one we put to the side and figure we will do another day. In fact we might start on it and say to ourselves, I will do this today. Then we get into it and it is not much fun or just to hard to take on that day so we put it off. We may have had some good thoughts but they will be lost in the “Where Was I” if we don’t finish right there. Pretty soon the deadline looms over us and then the result is hasty and likely not as thorough as it could have been. The message is to tackle the project and don’t procrastinate. It will only cause you sleeplessness and the lack of ability to focus on the other projects at hand. It will simply hang there in your subconscious and drive you nuts till you take it on.  Try to have a clear to-do list and stick to it as best you can. Make it realistic and not so long that there is no way you could ever accomplish it all in one day. Set a goal you can achieve and you will have a great sense of accomplishment at the end of that day!

Syndrome Symptom 4 – Being Untidy

Sure, working from home has great benefits when it comes to dressing for the workday. It is not as if you have to put on a suit and tie or dress and heels to sit at your desk and go about your day. However, if you go to work in your robe you will feel very unprofessional and if you feel unprofessional you may come across uncertain to your callers. Perhaps you get a phone call from the Sales Manager of a tour company or cruise line that wants to discuss your marketing plan and coop support for 2005. You answer the phone and are thrilled to hear them on the other side of the phone. You sit up straight and give it your full attention only to realize you are in your pajamas. Your hair is a mess, your teeth are not yet brushed and basically you feel pretty vulnerable. Not a good place for a professional to be so please…. Get up and get dressed before you head to your home office. No small part of the success working from home is your attention to the structure and the professionalism that you simply feel about yourself and your image. Here in lies the cure to this symptom.

Syndrome Symptom 4 – Workaholicism

Well, this is probably not in Webster’s book but for those of you who work from home and work too much, you well know what this means. It is a serious cause of the “Where Was I” disease as you are just plain tired much of the time. The great thing about working from home is you are home and you can work anytime you please. I know when Tom is traveling I work an average of 15 hour days on a regular basis. I am not that into TV and after working all day on the computer my eyes are to tired to read so I work. I work on the website; do emails; file and do whatever else I need to do. Somehow I never do get caught up but I sure do try. So I tested this theory last week. Tom was out of town so on Thursday and Friday of last week I tried to work on a cure. I would normally put in my marathon day on Thursday but I forced (believe me I had to tear myself away from my desk) myself to shut the door to the office and not go back in there all night. I stayed home so this was really hard to do and I was tempted to go in there many times. I had to try out the theory though. The question was what do I do with all that time. Like I did not have home issues to deal with which often take a backseat to my work. So, I pruned by roses, as it was light till 8:00pm. After that I did some laundry and watered my flowerbed. Basically I did things I needed to do but put off to work.

Now don’t get me wrong here… I am not cured of this symptom but I did enjoy my off time and I did get some things done. I had a real sense of accomplishment and I realized I just did a very healthy thing for my business and myself. I gave it a rest for a few hours and it was all still there waiting for me in the morning. I was actually rather anxious to get back in there and I had a very productive day. So productive that I left at 5:30pm and went to the mall to hit a sale.  Now that is a cure for one symptom and a symptom of another illness (shopaholic) but we won’t go there.

In a future article we will delve into some more suggestions for curing some of the common ailments that occur working from home and hopefully the above information will bring you more clarity on where you are and where you want to go with your home based travel business.

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