@Rob, I think that the “freelancing with family” angle is another topic that merits more exposure, thanks for bringing it up. I think you’re exactly right that having a separate work space/phone etc. even if it’s in your house is very important. Also, I think it’s great to point out that even people with office jobs (hopefully) don’t plant themselves in the chair all day without ever getting up, and it’s important to take some breaks during the day. The idea of an external incentive is really important too; we don’t have bosses, but we have a lot of other motivations. I started freelancing when my daughter was an infant, and I would look at her and think “either I make a go of this or she goes to a babysitter and I go to a cubicle” and that really helped! Thanks for your comment!

Thanks for your post on what is a key issue for every single homeworker, be they a translator or anything else.

A few observations I’d like to add:

- If possible (and I realise it isn’t always), have a dedicated workspace away from the house’s main living areas. I’m fortunate enough to have a reasonably spacious office in the basement area. This enables me to maintain the impression of “going to work”, while still being at home. We’ve tried to train the kids to understand that when Dad is in his office, he’s at work and therefore not available for unimportant chit-chat.

- Have a separate work phone number. As well as allowing you to ignore your residential phone while you’re working (assuming there’s someone else or an answering machine to answer it), this avoids the risk of having a call from an important client answered by one of your kids, which might not give the kind of professional image you want to convey.

- Try to get out. While there are many benefits in not having to physically go somewhere else to work, the fact of being at home, indoors, on your own all day (especially in a solitary profession like translating) can take your toll. It took my wife to point this out to me – being cooped up indoors was making me stressed and grumpy. When possible, I try to get out for some fresh air and a change of perspective – even if it’s only walking the dog for 20 minutes at lunch time.

- Allow buffer times. What do I mean by this? I’ve discovered that coming out of my office at the end of the day and sitting straight down for dinner is not the best idea – chances are I’ll still be work mode, which is not always conducive to enjoyable, relaxed family time. So I try to alow a “buffer” period of at least 20 minutes or so to unwind and do something else that gets me out of work mode and into “normal family member” mode.

Finally, what I’ve found to be the best incentive to stay focussed and keep working: the knowledge that if I don’t I won’t be able to pay the mortgage or put food on the table!

Rob

Other wee things that have hugely helped me include CREATING an external incentive. For example, I have a plug-in called “leech-block” in firefox, that when activated it absolutely refuses to let me access my personal email account, facebook, google reader and other work-unrelated sites that tempt me until the deadline is passed; even if I reboot the computer. It’s really helped keep me working even with the infinitely distracting Internet waiting to suck away my time.
And a free program called “rescue-time” analyses my program clicks and usage time, and I have it email my work account at a particular time if I haven’t done enough hours (i.e. spent a minimum amount of active time in MS Word and on my specifically selected dictionary and translation sites). It even graphs my “efficiency” for a day/week/month, so I know in the back of my mind that future-me will be disappointed if he sees a poor output, and I really hate to disappoint him!! I prefer to have future-me as my boss, he’s way cooler than all the other ones I used to have
These tools really help me to get that boss aspect reminding me to work, without needing to go through that annoying métro-boulot-dodo lifestyle for it (I lived that expression in Paris, things like “rat race” don’t even come close to being a proper translation…)
I like to work in 2 hour blocks so I set my music player (I work better with music) to a 2 hour countdown. If I go to the toilet or help a family member do something, that countdown gets paused so I CAN’T have my proper break until it reaches zero. It’s an imaginary restriction, but I’ve programmed myself into obeying the timer so it’s been great in getting work done I read about some translators insisting that you give yourself a break and have fun… that’s never been a problem for me!!! So these programs breathing down my neck morph me into someone efficient! I’ve even applied them to non-work projects like working on my website or improving an already learnt language. The amount I get done in a day now is incredible compared to my couch-potato (or more recently, “mouse potato”) years!!
Thanks for the thought-provoking post!