The past few weeks I’ve been dealing with a lot of negativity.  I know what I do all day long.  I know that every tiny detail I’m working on is part of a much bigger picture and therefore, very important.  However, there are many people who will look at you  as lazy, boring, or available because you are at home whether you are at a desk or on a laptop on the couch in your pjs.  I actually get accused of all three.  Wait, there’s one more:  obsessive.

I need to make $3000 more than I normally do and preferably within a month.  There are three conventions coming up and that requires money.  Voice overs is not my full time persuit as it doesn’t pay the bills yet.  However, my main money maker is still working for myself.  So to the untrained eye, it may appear that I spend a lot of time on Facebook or that I’m just playing around in Photoshop.

My roommate wonders why I don’t move my office from my parents house to ours.  He also sits up every night mocking me for continuing to work on my computer into the wee hours of the morning.  “You need to learn to relax.”  I’m actually not stressed.  I like working for myself or I wouldn’t do it.  I just don’t like the constant mocking or the people who get hurt feelings because I’m not hanging out with them when all I’m doing is staying home.

The office has to stay at my parents house for two reasons.  It helps me feel like I’m leaving every day to go to work.  That helps me avoid a lot of the invites out and the roommate annoyances.  The other reason is it’s just not possible to set up sound proofing at the other house yet.  I need the quiet so for now it’s a no brainer.

After all of that venting, I just want to say this is not a complaint blog.  It’s meant to show that if you’re having troubles with other people in working for yourself, you’re not alone.  I need to stand up for myself and say, “This is how I pay my bills and if you like rent, let me work.”  I imagine the mocking won’t stop but all you can do is try to accomplish as much as you can in a day when there are no distractions so that when there are, you can let yourself relax a little bit.  Prioritizing and list making are your most valuable tools so that you don’t get behind in work and miss deadlines.  It’s a juggling act. As long as you’re aware of it, I’m aware of it,… we’re all aware of it… we’ll be productive.  And the next time you see someone working on the home computer, don’t assume it’s nothing.  Be curtious of other people’s time.

Here are a few blogs with great information on disciplining yourself while working from home:

• Work at Home Discipline 4 Step Action Plan
• Working from home successfully requires extra planning, organization and discipline
• Cultivating Discipline When Working from Home

Good luck with shooing the distractions.  If you have some helpful tips for working from home, please share them below.  How do you deal with nay sayers?  How do you avoid temptation?  What is your response to to being clearly lazy since you’re self employed?

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The next morning I found this through a repost from Pinterest.  It seems to say it all: