For the last three months I've been working for myself, from home. While it is usually awesome, it is also occasionally boring/lonely/unmotivating.

For the last week, I've been in Melbourne, staying with Lady Smaggle, her boyfriend and flatmate - all of of whom also work for themselves, from home. So we've been doing a lot of 'co-working' (aka sitting in the same room with our laptops open) but I've been amazed at what a difference it makes! Just being in the vicinity of productivity makes me work harder!

My other tricks?

* list making (obviously)
* setting timers and forcing myself to work on a task with no distractions for that amount of time
* giving myself little rewards
* getting dressed and showered by 10 every day
* taking dance breaks
* leechblocker http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html

Do any of you work from home? How do you avoid staying in your yoga pants all day watching E?

Sarah Von, this post is for me!

I work from my home office as a writer. It's coming up on 7 months now.

While it is fantastic and I've learned I can't complain to my friends who are still in an active "workplace" (as far as they're concerned I have the best job EVER because I don't have to commute, get dressed (though I do), battle crowds at lunch or put up with bosses and co-workers) there are downsides. The numero uno big daddy is the isolation.

As an aside, I'd love to set up a network of people who also work from home. Occasional Skype chats and the odd email really help. What do you think?

To combat isolation I:
* Work from the library/cafes in the City every now and again (this will actually increase once I get my new laptop that doesn't weigh as much as a baby elephant)

* Skype other writers

* Buy heaps of stuff online so I can interact with the delivery person! Does this count?

As far as getting stuff done...I actually have amazing discipline. I know, it weirds me out too.

When I'm working:
* I work between the hours of 7:30 and 3:30 Monday to Thursday. These are my work hours. During this time, I work. End of story.

* I have set up my home office to be exactly the way I want it

* I make and abide by lists

* I set my timer for 33 minutes when I'm working on a task. When the 33 minutes is up I get up, have a good stretch and then get back at it for another 33 minutes and repeat (swapping out stretching with a cup of tea sometimes) until it's done.

* I don't watch TV. I don't even turn it on.

* I get dressed every morning. Even if I'll get changed in the afternoon when I go out I will still shower and get dressed before work.

Ooh, here are some tips I wrote down when I first started which really helped me set a good routine:

I “go” to work.
My husband walks me to work before he leaves. The act of walking through the door to my office, sitting down, turning the computer on and going over the days To Do list lets me know that I am in a work environment and here to do just that, work.

I get dressed for work.
I don’t just get dressed I get dressed to go to work. I put my shoes on. I put a hat on and leave it on the door knob when I arrive. When I go out, I put my hat on. Little rituals like that really help.

I treat it like I am at work.
I am at my office for x amount of time. I break for breakfast and lunch with tea breaks. I do not turn the TV on at lunch. I do not put a load of washing on. I don’t treat it any differently to if I was at an external place of work. When you have finished up for the day, then you can look at the dishes, the washing, making dinner.

Oh man, I am currently working from home as well. These are all great tips, LoversSaintsSailors. Thanks,
EE

You're most welcome EE, glad they helped!

I work from home as a writer and it's amaaaaaazing!!! I used to break down in tears before going to my reception job, or the coffee shop job I had before that, or the construction job I had before that... It was bad.

Anyways, I LOVE making my own hours. I refuse to have a structured work day because it just doesn't mesh with my personality. There's no use trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I do have a morning ritual/routine though:

I wake up at 5am so I can go for a walk before anybody in my city wakes up. I meditate in a park down the street. I journal and sketch there too if it's not raining. I'm a practicing witch (if you're wondering: it's a non-scary, Pagan, earth-oriented thing) so at this time I'll also do any spiritual stuff that I need to do.

Everybody has to do what works for them. For me, it was absolutely amazing to know that I could do anything at anytime in any place. If you're a Pisces like me, you should probably just embrace the chaos and go where they day takes you, as long as you have some grounding routines and you fit your work in somewhere. Sometimes I'll spend a week staying up until 3am and getting very little sleep, sometimes I'll be in bed by 8pm. My tips for creative types:

1. Get up at the same time every day.
2. Go to sleep when you feel tired.
3. Try working in different spaces: libraries, coffee shops, a field, a cemetery...
4. Use an app that blocks distracting sites. I use "Self Control"
5. Figure out when you're most productive/creative. At night? In the morning? Try working at different hours and see how you feel.
6. Embrace the lifestyle. It's not supposed to be an office job. Travel and explore while working. Spend October in Salem and work from a witchy café. Take a day trip to the closest big city and work in a gallery (notebooks only!) or a park where you can people watch. A creative type works best when inspired.
7. Embrace the "alone time." Become independent. Take yourself on mid-day dates to the movies, have a solo picnic in the park and work under a tree.

Sorry, these tips will be of no help to Virgos

http://bunnysunday.wordpress.com/

I have a part-time job, 3 days a week, and work from home the rest of the time. My boyfriend is a freelance filmmaker and so when he's not shooting in the field, he works from home too, and we share an office.

I will say that I've learned after a certain point in the evening I'm usually pretty useless, so I try to use the earlier parts of the day when I have more energy to get things accomplished. I've also learned if I have certain projects that need to get done, keeping things like email / Facebook / Twitter hidden from view is best. Try to resist checking them often when you're trying to do real work!

I work from home as a web developer. I have my office in my room, I have a huge desk, an office chair and I keep work related stuff on it.

Since I mostly need to get stuff online (inspiration, scripts, pieces of code) and I need to connect to develop my websites, turning off the internet doesn't work for me. I do use a different browser for work than the one I use for internet fun.

I have an email checker, so that I don't stare at my inbox waiting for something and I keep Twitter and Facebook on the background but don't check them a lot.

Personally, I'm more productive from 8am to 12 pm or very late at night, so I try to work those hours. I take client calls from 10 am until 6 pm and client meetings are scheduled in the same time frame.

Unless I have a very pressing project, I don't work weekends or late at night. All my work can be done during those 4 productive hours I have in the morning. I do keep an outline of the project and use it as a to-do list, that's how I keep track. I use TeuxDeux to keep it updated.

Try a bunch of things and just figure out what it's best for you. The most important thing is to figure your best work hours and keep them .