I agree about the music – I use working in the day as an opportunity to catch up on the radio esp the news and in the evening it’s Spotify or iTunes. My productivity would be a lot lower in a quiet office.

Love the “home worker” picture as above on your website. I would like to use this in a newsletter I am producing. Could you tell me if it has a copyright attached or, if it is yours, are you happy for me to use it?

Please reply on the email above.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

When I first started working from home long ago, I used to put on a suit, stockings, the whole nine yards every day. People who knew me and new I worked from home thought I was nuts, but it helped me get in the right frame of mind.

I don’t dress up that much today (who does?), but I still recognize that dressing the part and keeping to a schedule are crucial to successfully working from home.

I think that a lot of the points are valid, but also it should allow for personalization. Like Gail, I work very long hours, so separating work from personal is actually not good for me. If I do emails in front of the TV at night (clearly violating the rule), but it allows me to spend more time with my wife the next morning or something, then I do it. I never fix work and personal hours, but rather strive to keep things as flexible as I can to max out personal time and schedule. But that’s due to the demands of my job.

Work clothes? no. Heck, I always have 6AM phone conferences with our remote offices and customers in Europe. Nooooo, those are done in boxers, t-shirt and a coffee in hand.

Get out with people? Seriously important. Software tools too. Mobility is key for flexibility. Working at the coffee shop, etc, I do that a lot just to get out of the house. My splurge is my little 3G USB stick that allows me to get the heck out anytime I want.