Your Work from Home Life: Redefine, Reorganize and Reinvent Your Remote Work (Tips for Building a Home-Based Working Career)
By M.J. Fievre, Becca Anderson and Brenda Knight
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About this ebook
“A productive guide for our new world of remote work.” —Paula Rizzo, media consultant, speaker, and author of Listful Living
Whatever your remote work circumstance, learn how to be productive at home with nuggets of hard-earned wisdom. From choosing the best colors for workspace productivity to starting a business, these remote work gurus offer everything needed for a smooth work-to-home transition.
The new world of working from home. No longer does the average worker have long, frustrating commutes to crowded offices for jobs more comfortably worked from home. In this day and age, not only are more employers offering remote work, more people are creating their own opportunities for non-traditional work from home. Whether you are a remote work employee, freelancer, or someone who dreams of giving up the daily grind for a career of your own design, Your Work from Home Life is the next step to becoming the ultimate work nomad.
Productivity tips and much more. Remote work gurus Becca Anderson and M.J. Fievre guide you through the online search process and help you create a list of online certification programs, blogging opportunities, and jobs that allow you to work from home. Together, they offer advice on planning, budgeting, contingency plans, and other resources. Along with advice on how to be productive at home, this fun and uplifting book includes bonus checklists and templates to help you:
- Take advantage of technology and platforms, home office set-ups, and breaks at work
- Work with colleagues while redefining collegial camaraderie, avoiding overwhelmed and isolated feelings
- Develop time and distraction management to meet pressing deadlines and achieve focused, deep work
- Discover the important role of self-care and personalize your very own self-care strategy
If you enjoyed books like Remote, Indistractable, The 4 Hour Work Week, or Nine Lies About Work, you’ll love Your Work from Home Life .
M.J. Fievre
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, M.J. Fievre moved to the United States in 2002. She currently writes from Miami. M.J.’s publishing career began as a teenager in Haiti. At nineteen years-old, she signed her first book contract with Hachette-Deschamps, in Haiti, for the publication of a Young Adult book titled La Statuette Maléfique. Since then, M.J. has authored nine books in French that are widely read in Europe and the French Antilles. In 2013, One Moore Book released M.J.’s first children’s book, I Am Riding, written in three languages: English, French, and Haitian Creole. In 2015, Beating Windward Press published M.J.’s memoir, A Sky the Color of Chaos, about her childhood in Haiti during the brutal regime of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. M.J. Fievre is the author of Happy, Okay? Poems about Anxiety, Depression, Hope, and Survival (Books & Books Press, 2019) and Badass Black Girl: Questions, Quotes, and Affirmations for Teens (Mango Publishing, 2020). She helps others write their way through trauma, build community and create social change. She works with veterans, disenfranchised youth, cancer patients and survivors, victims of domestic and sexual violence, minorities, the elderly, those with chronic illness or going through transition and any underserved population in need of writing as a form of therapy—even if they don’t realize that they need writing or therapy. A long-time educator and frequent keynote speaker (Tufts University, Massachusetts; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; the University of Miami, Florida; and Michael College, Vermont; and a panelist at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference, AWP), M.J. is available for book club meetings, podcast presentations, interviews and other author events.
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Your Work from Home Life - M.J. Fievre
©
Copyright 2020 M.J. Fievre
Cover Design: Roberto Nuñez
Interior Layout Design: Jermaine Lau
Published by Conari Press, an imprint of Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Media Inc.
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Your Work from Home Life: Redefine, Reorganize and Reinvent Your Remote Work
ISBN: (p) 978-1-64250-490-3 (e) 978-1-64250-491-0
BISAC: BUS097000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Workplace Culture
LCCN: 2020951518
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Rules of Engagement
Chapter 1 Know What You’re Signing Up For
The Pros and Cons of Working Remotely
Your Pros and Cons
Questions to Ask Your Employer
Additional Questions
Questions to Ask Yourself
Additional Questions
Teams: The Who’s Who Checklist
Finding Remote Opportunities
Chapter 2 Create Your Workspace
Tips to Set Up Your Workspace
Best Colors for Productivity
The Essential List of Office Supplies for Your Home Office
The Documents Checklist
Your Hanging File Organizer
The Password Organizer
Setting Up Your Virtual Office: The List of Essential Apps
Essential Apps: Your Own Research
Strategic Organization
The Home Office Decluttering Checklist
Chapter 3 Know Your Peak Hours…and Eat the Frog!
Peak Hours: The Getting Started
Routine for Your Work from Home Life
The End-of-Day Routine
Take a Break
Take a Break: The Basic Rules
Three Scientific Reasons to Prioritize Breaks at Work
Take a Break: Seven Break Methods to Try
Signs That You Should Take a Break
Three Things That Help You Feel Recharged
Things to Do During Your Break
Learn Something New
Over One Hundred Skills to Learn
Journal It!
Chapter 4 Understand the Basics of Planning and Scheduling
The Essential Planner
The Essential Planner
The Weekly To-Do list
The Daily To-Do List
Ten Minutes to Reflect on your Day
Journal It!
Chapter 5 Set Boundaries Between Home and Work When Work Is at Home
The Perfect Work-Life Balance
Avoid Distractions
Time Management: Fifteen Ways to Avoid Distractions
Six Ways to Avoid the Social Media TemptatioN
How to Deal with Time (and Energy) Vampires
Delegate
Thirty-Day Deep Clean and Declutter
Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids
The Meal Planner
Be Flexible
Ways to Pat Yourself on the Back
Chapter 6 Stay Connected
Online Meeting Etiquette: Ten Things to Remember
Proactive, Creative, Positive: Ten Helpful Rules for Remote Work Communication
Fun Ways to Keep in Touch with Coworkers While Working Remotely
Stay Connected—to Others, to Your Pets, and to Nature
Google How To…
Activities and Ideas to Stay Connected
Journal It!
Chapter 7 Practice Self-Care
Twenty Tips for Personalizing Your Self-Care Strategy
Ten Tips for Overcoming Fear
Changing Your Environment Helps You Remain Positive
Use Movement and Music
Journal It!
Be Creative
Ten TED Talks to Boost Your Creativity
My Own TED List
Five Free Apps that Can Boost Your Creativity
Other Apps I Want to Look Into
Be Creative: What to Do with Empty Notebooks
Chapter 8 Work on Your Career, Your Finances—and Yourself
Month at a Glance
Your Budget Categories
SMART Goals
Dreams and Goals
Thirty Days of Purpose
Chapter 9 Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help/
Expect the Unexpected
Your Crisis Management Team
Ten Things to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant
Watch Your Back: Backing Up Data and Critical Records
Be Prepared
Be Prepared: Basic Emergency Supply Kit
Journal It!
What about Altruism and Gratitude? Ways to Help During a Crisis
Journal It!
Bonus Chapter Gratitude
Thirty Days of Gratitude
Conclusion You Have the Keys
About the Authors
Our Kick-Ass Reference List
Introduction
Technological advances have made it possible for more workers than ever to give up their long, frustrating commutes to nine-to-five jobs. Instead of languishing in crowded offices, employees can work from the comfort of their own homes. Not only are more employers offering their workers remote positions, more people are creating their own opportunities for nontraditional work. If you are reading this book, chances are you are one of the many people who have either shifted to a remote career or are considering it. Welcome to the world of telecommuting!
Whether you are already a remote employee, a freelancer, a consultant who is looking to boost productivity and troubleshoot distractions, or someone who dreams of giving up the daily grind for a career of their own design, Your Work From Home Life is the book you need to reorganize and redefine your career.
Whatever your aspirations for a work-at-home career, it is our hope that you’ll find this book fun and uplifting and that you’ll put to good use the checklists and templates we provide. They’re meant to help you maintain your health and sanity by adding joy to your workday and help you take advantage of technology and platforms. In these pages, you’ll find tips and templates for home office setups, time and distraction management, discipline, and (a lot of) self-care. In addition to planning, budgeting, and so on, Your Work From Home Life focuses on ways to love yourself because working from home requires that you practice self-improvement and become centered.
This book will help you understand the pros and cons of working from home, learn to maintain strong bonds with your colleagues while redefining collegial camaraderie, clearly establish boundaries between home and work, avoid becoming overwhelmed and isolated, and learn how to handle an emergency or crisis. It will also allow you to help your managers by prioritizing and staying focused and on task in order to meet pressing deadlines and to research your competition, discover new ideas and skills, and provide value to your ideal customer.
The authors of this book have wisdom to spare in the work from home field. M.J. has many years of experience working in nontraditional and remote roles as an educator, writer, coach, translator, and entrepreneur. She currently works as an acquisitions editor for the fastest-growing publisher in the United States and serves as a project manager for a multifaceted corporation with a multinational consultant base that provides art, writing, and translation services to clients worldwide. In this book, she shares her decades-long experience in remote work, beginning with her work as a freelancer in Port-au-Prince, Miami, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, and eventually starting her own company.
Becca is a writer and editor who works from a home office in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an expert in cultivating camaraderie, agility, and collaboration within her online team. In Your Work From Home Life, she shares powerful advice gleaned from professional experience. Originally from Ohio, Becca credits her first-grade teacher as a great inspiration and runs several popular online classes and workshops.
Whatever your circumstances, you’ll find nuggets of hard-earned wisdom in this book, along with hacks, how-tos, and advice from other teleworkers and experts.
We wish you prosperity in your work from home ventures!
M.J. Fievre and Becca Anderson
The Rules of Engagement
I.Know What You’re Signing Up For
II.Create Your Workspace
III.Know Your Peak Hours
IV.Understand the Basics of Planning and Scheduling
V.Set Boundaries Between Home and Work When Work Is at Home
VI.Stay Connected
VII.Practice Self-Care
VIII.Work on Your Career, Your Finances, and Yourself
IX.Know When to Ask for Help
X.Don’t Forget about Gratitude
Chapter 1
Know What You’re Signing Up For
While working from your couch sounds great in theory, it’s important to understand the pros and cons so you know how to best optimize your arrangement. A pro of working from home may be that you can lounge in your sweatpants and stretch out with no one to notice the cookie crumbs on your keyboard, but the temptation to tap the on
button on the television remote can be distracting, and, come summertime, if the kids are home during the day, it can become a challenge to focus on anything above the din of temper tantrums and calls for your immediate attention. Working from home is no less challenging than working from an office. It’s all work,
after all. Keep the right mindset—knowing you may be putting in more effort than before.
The Pros and Cons of Working Remotely
Pros
•True independence—you learn to rely on self-motivation, self-discipline, focus, and concentration. You may also have the ability to work anywhere.
•Flexible hours and increased productivity—you can get more work done, with the opportunity to learn new skills.
•No commute, which translates to huge savings in time and