There’s no place like home for the holidays — unless you’re still trying to work from your home office, that is. The holidays can be hectic times for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners who have set up shop at their kitchen table or a spare room in their home. Between having the kids home from school on Christmas break to answering the door for special deliveries, the entire holiday season can challenge your productivity.
As more people are turning to mobile or remote work, it’s becoming increasingly important to learn how to adapt. No two people work in quite the same way, so it’s important to get introspective about your ideal environment so you can do your best work.
Shifting to a coworking space can eliminate many of the inefficiencies of working from home while giving you the freedom and flexibility you expect from self-employment. Consider the benefits.
Find Your Focus
Nearly three out of four workers say they are more productive when working remotely because there are fewer distractions. While that may be true on a typical day, the added stress and activities of the holidays can make it harder to focus while working at home.
In general, most people lose focus at work during the holidays, regardless of the work environment. Swelling to-do lists keep your mind busy, from planning family dinners to shopping for gifts to decking the halls and beyond.
If you have kids who are out of school for holiday breaks, you may even find that a temporary transfer to a coworking space can give you much-needed respite. Less noise and fewer interruptions can help you carry on with business as usual, no matter what your home life looks like during the holiday season.
Keep Work and Home Life Separate
One of the biggest challenges of working from a home office is finding the dividing line between your job and your home life. In our digital era, it’s all too easy to check your email whenever you have a free minute at dinner or drum up a quote for a client before bedtime. You no longer have to wait to get back to the office to take care of business, which means you can be more attentive and responsive.
On the surface, it can appear that working from home makes you more productive. You can do more work in a given day because you live where you work. However, anyone who has worked from home consistently knows that this makes it even harder to “end” the workday. For many, the workday never truly ends, but rather becomes sprinkled into your personal activities.
Though it looks like you’re accomplishing more in your day, not having this distinction can actually make your productivity suffer. You could be at a greater risk for burnout because you’re technically working more hours than you once did in an office setting.
Using a flexible office space can help you keep your work and home life separate so you can focus on each without the other intruding.
Flexible Office Space Lives Up to Its Name
At Office Evolution, our flexible workspaces are aptly named; you decide when and how you work best and can gain better control over office costs. Let us help you keep your focus this holiday season and into the year ahead. Find the Office Evolution location nearest you and take a tour to see what we can offer you this holiday season.