The Joy of Working at Home: Embracing the Freedom, Avoiding the Pitfalls

by Ann Byle, Ann-Margret Hovsepian, Tim Morgan

Working at home is the great experiment of 2020. Can you do good work from a tabletop or corner desk at home? Can you survive the merging of family and work amid a pandemic? Freelancers have long known the answer is a resounding yes! The Joy of Working at Home offers top tips and advanced advice from seasoned freelance writers who know a thing or two about time management, creating a workspace, setting boundaries, and staying healthy. Inside you’ll • Best practices for a useful workspace • Tools for managing your schedule and time • Top tips for setting boundaries • Technology that helps, not hurts • Ideas to reclaim your creativity • Advice on staying healthy and professional • Grace for blending work and family Working well at home is doable, enjoyable, and practical. The Joy of Working at Home helps create a framework for those newly working from home and helps those already doing so to improve their experience for the best work possible.

85 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 7, 2020

Reviews

[Janet Sketchley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and practical, with bonus links to additional content in a wide variety of online locations. Although this book specifically speaks to the struggle of adapting to working at home during the height of the COVID-19 restrictions, it continues to have much to offer to those who may not be returning to the out-of-home workplace (or at least not full-time). Beyond that, it's valuable for anyone who is working from home, be they self-employed or on contract.

Chapters address time management, motivation, health, workspace, and more in sections titled "Setting Up, Doing the Work, Avoiding the Pitfalls, and Preparing for the Long-Term. Obviously the predictions and possibilities for the future as seen from 2020 won't match those we'd make in the present, but the bulk of this book is still a good resource.

I hesitate to give 5 stars to short books simply because they don't have time to include enough to make a significant impact. Yet this book said all it needed to say to its specific original audience; its inclusion of links to further online reading expended the content options, and it reaches to speak beyond that original audience. And so, 5 stars it is.