Don’t mistake working-from-home with hardly-working. Telecommuting means simply that you’re performing your work from home. Choosing how much work you do when you’re at home is no different than it is in the office.

Some people fall into the trap of asuming that since they telecommute, they can slack off a bit because they’re saving all that time commuting. And it’s true, if you’re used to a 1 hour commute every morning and again every evening, you’re going to get a lot of time back when you telecommute. You can probably sleep in a bit in the mornings! Heck, you can sleep in for a full 2 hours if that’s where you want to spend all your saved time. But then you don’t get to slack off for other parts of the day.

Keep track of your time - especially when you first start telecommuting. Figure out how many hours you *really* worked in the office (no, lunch with your teammates, unless you’re talking shop, doesn’t count). Then make sure you’re putting in the same kind of time at home. It may be during different parts of the day. You may start work earlier because you get up at the same time, skip the shower and getting dressed bit, and head straight for your computer. But then you may take a break to do some jobs around the house at lunch time. And you’ve still got to get your  shower in at some point - even if it’s not until 3pm!

The point is to make sure you’re getting your work done. After you’ve been telecommuting a long time, this will all become second nature - you’ll get your rhythm down. Just make sure you don’t start off on the wrong foot or you’ll either find your career suffering or just decide that telecommuting isn’t right for you. And that would be a real shame!

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