If you've been dying to find a way to work online, and haven't taken all the aspects of working online into consideration, then you'll want to read this article. Specifically, we're going to talk about what it takes to work online, and what I believe to be 4 of the biggest hurdles people have when it comes to succeeding in the online space. After reading this article, you'll be more prepared for when you come across these 4 hurdles, and will jump over them with ease.
So without further ado, here's number 1 of 4 reasons why you might actually hate working online:
1. You'll Have to Discipline Yourself
When we're young, our parents instil discipline in us when we're at home. We do what our parents tell us to do. While we're still young, we go to school where teachers tell us what to do. Then when we go to a job this continues with now our boss telling us what to do. This isn't exactly good preparation for striking out on your own.
Worst of all, jobs are like poison for self-discipline because we think we get paid for showing up rather than for the actual work we do. When you work online, you'll have to learn self-discipline. You'll have to learn to segment your day and set out goals for yourself. Then, you'll have to time yourself and do your best to reach those goals. People who don't understand this and don't learn self-discipline will end up going back to their jobs where they can feel comfortable having a boss telling them what to do.
2. Its Sooo Easy to Get Distracted
One of the greatest things about the internet is also one of the biggest drawbacks when it comes to working online. Just think of the million different things you could be doing. And when it's all available with just a few clicks of the mouse, it's gotta be the easiest most deadliest distraction device ever created.
One minute you're working on a project and you tell yourself you should check your emails real quick. Then you check your emails and you see a Facebook notification, so you tell yourself you should check Facebook real quick. Then while on Facebook, someone posts a funny Youtube video. Then, while you're on Youtube you click on a couple more funny videos in the sidebar. Then you realise you didn't check the news today, and you gotta stay informed right? So you check the news. Then you realise that you're now hungry. So you go fix yourself a sandwich.
By the time you've gotten back to your work you could have easily wasted over an hour of your time. Now you try to go back to your work and how does it feel? Well, after spending an hour procrastinating, work feels even more painful now, and worst of all, you've wasted an hour!
If you're going to be successful online, you're going to have to learn to schedule your distractions. Schedule time to do all of the fun stuff, and do it AFTER you've fully accomplished something on your to-do list. And in order to do that you're going to have to create to-do lists every day so that you can clearly keep track of what you're trying to accomplish throughout the day.
3. It Can Be Lonely
This might not seem like such a big drawback at first. I mean, if you're at a job where you have to deal with a boss breathing down your neck every second, or co-workers that annoy the hell out of you, loneliness might be the last thing on your mind. But at the same time it's very real. If you don't have a good circle of friends or a partner that you can turn to, it can be very depressing.
There's no co-workers who you can share your frustrations with. There's no office gossip around the coffee machine.
There are a few ways to combat this problem. One, you should try varying where you do your work. For instance, you could take your laptop to a coffee shop or a library a couple of times a week. Also, getting involved in online communities with other people who work online is a good bet. You can discuss problems and solutions on discussion boards. Finally, offline networking and social groups are a great way to stay connected and not feel so isolated.
4. Family and Friend Pressure
"How could you be working if you're just sitting at a computer at home? Surely, there's no problem in striking up a conversation with you for 10 minutes so you can get completely off-track and lose your train of thought for a good 30 minutes."
This unfortunately is the train of thought of many people and will no doubt exist with some of your family and friends. They wouldn't dream of driving over to you at your job and distracting you there, but they will when you're just sitting with your laptop at home.
Fact of the matter is, that you'll have to be ruthless with them. You have to be clear that this is your job and that when they distract you they're literally taking money out of your pocket. Couple of suggestions for you are to try to find a closed off space where you can do your work, and maybe even put up a do-not-disturb sign. Put on headphones to show that you're working and not to be disturbed.
Also, I highly recommend putting your phone on silent during your scheduled working time so you won't be interrupted by phone calls. If you're freelancing and have to accept calls from clients, then I suggest having an hour or two here and there where you re-direct your calls to voicemail so you can get a couple of distraction free working hours into your day. You can greatly increase your productivity this way.
Conclusion
And that pretty much sums it up, 4 reasons you might hate working online, as well as a couple of solutions for solving them. If you have no problem implementing just a couple of these solutions, I'm sure you'll enjoy working online. While there are drawbacks, it's clear that the benefits far outweigh them. Now stop reading this, and get back to WORK!
Lewis Barnes is the editor of [
http://www.incomeatwill.com]Income At Will, the free newsletter detailing how to be successful working online. Visit his [
http://www.incomeatwill.com]website to get more tips, techniques, and ideas to make your dream of working online a reality.
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