Should You Keep Your Workspace and Personal Space Separate? Does it Matter?

Should You Keep Your Workspace and Personal Space Separate? Does it Matter?

Dear Freelancers, do you work where you live? Is your work space the same as your play space? If so, and you want to stop working for a while, how do you escape your work place or work station if it's the same place as where you play and relax in?

I myself, do most of my work in my room as that's where my computer is located. It's in the corner of my room which I sometimes call "the lab" just for kicks. Because it's where I come up with ideas and do my work for my clients from.

But some people say that it's not good to do that because you're blending your work space with your play space and when you want to break away from your work for a while, you can't because it's all in the same place, same room, whatever.

What is more, working in the same room that you relax in and take time off from your work can bring many distractions. According to a study carried out by theglobeandmail.com on The five biggest distractions when working from home show them to be;

1. Your family such as your children needing and wanting your attention.
   
2. The inability to gain access to proper office equipment like printers etc.
   
3. The need and want to do household chores like cleaning and tidying up.
   
4. The temptation to keep the TV on in the background as "company".
   
5. A lack of proper working space not separated from your "me space".
   

Do any of those ring any bells of familiarity with you? Several do for me! I often have the TV on in the background, and although I'm not really "watching" it, I still find myself looking at the TV and glued to it for 5 minutes at a time here and there. By the end of the day, when you add up all the minutes that I spent watching the TV when I should have been working it probably comes to a couple hours and least!

And some people say that you should keep your working space and your living space separated from each other. That way when you need a break from working, the things around you in your environment aren't work related. That way you can truly get a break from the work you do and feel much more rejuvenated and refreshed for it.

What do you think and what do you do? Do you like to keep your work space separate from your living space? Or do you just live and work in the same place and blend it all together?