No more hiding in the server room
Working from home
Sadly my fiancee is quite unwell at the moment which is necessitating my working from home, that in itself is not a problem. The problem is that working from home I'm finding my days just blur in to one, I get up I turn on the computer, I work and work and work and suddenly its time to stop working and then there's sleep.
Rarely do I find myself actually talking to anyone from the office as they appear to be keeping their distance so as not to burden me with issues I might not be able to take on. Which on the one had is sweet and on the other I know they're just waiting to dump the problems on me later.
Given this situation I thought I would come here and ask, does anyone else work form home or have you been in a similar situation? Is there any advice anyone can give me on how to set up my day so I don't feel like all I'm doing is working and sleeping?
Right now I can't imagine how anyone would want to work from home all the time, its such a weird place to be and work.
Views: 60
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Adam Ruth on -
I've worked from home about half of the last 15 years or so. I can't do it for more than about 2-3 years at a stretch before I need to get back to a real office.
I haven't found any quick fixes for the blurring problem, but it does seem to lessen over time. The closest I have come is to make a day ending ritual, one that signals to your head that you're done working, essentially in place of the home commute. I've never been able to find one that works permanently, but I know people who have pretty good success.
Some things that I've tried that worked for a while were an hour of yard work, a long walk, cooking dinner, taking a drive. Right now I have a fairly lengthly manual backup process at the end of the day (about 30 minutes.) I take that time to catch up on the daily news or play an online game, something that I might do on a commuter train to pass the time. Then work feels well and truly done and I can leave it until morning and do something else. I still haven't found a cure for staying out of the office the rest of the day, but at least when I'm there it's more-or-less doing personal things like I might do at home anyway.
I also found that it helps to work early rather than late. If you sleep in and work late it's harder to find time that's not work in your day.
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Permalink Reply by John McGrath on -
I agree with Adam... Choose to do something that is not work related: Get outside and walk around the block, driving to the store, etc.
I take a walk to the corner and make a point to talk to someone that is not related to my work.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Holloway on -
I suspect that you feel like you need to prove that you are busy whilst working at home, either to yourself or to your colleagues. Perhaps as a result you are over compensating by working longer hours. -?
If this is the case, be sure you have a list of what you want to get done in a day, do it and then clock off.
Clearly if you are only working six hours a day you might want to consider making the list a bit longer in future but if you are working long hours every day, you've got to stop that or you will burn out.
Your motivation will take a hit and you'll wind up getting nothing done but always feeling busy.
You don't want that, your fiancee doesn't want that and your boss doesn't want that.
Start early in the morning and if you haven't cleared the list when 5:30pm comes, get off the PC and spend some time in the real world.
You work hard, you do a good job. Set a schedule, stick to it and enjoy your own time.
Pass on my best wishes to you fiancee and I hope she is well again soon.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Taylor on -
I think you may have hit the nail on the head there, thanks for your input.
I do need to work to a specific list of tasks, I am finding myself working more and more hours just to prove that I'm always available when people want me to be.
I'll certainly look at my list for tomorrow, and see about making up that list.
Dan
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Permalink Reply by Richard Holloway on
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Is that like making up your hours?
Years ago I worked with a guy who was regularly in late and left early, took long lunches etc.
Our boss told him he had to make his hours up, or else disciplinary action would follow.
A month later all was well again. I asked him how it was going because as far as I could see, he wasn't getting in any earlier or leaving any later than before.
He told me he had done as he was asked and had literally `made his hours up`.
I do not advocate this approach but it did make me laugh at the time.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Taylor on
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lol, no I didn't quite mean it like that.
I'll certainly try to avoid making up my time, it doesn't sound like a career enhancing thing to do.
Dan
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Permalink Reply by Cole Lavallee on -
I only work from home when I'm sick (cold or something contagious) or once in a while.
I'd suggest on your "lunch" get up, go to the store, go for a walk, do something outside the house. That should help.
Also, make sure you're not working from 8AM to 10PM. Set a schedule for yourself to keep from days blurring into one another.
I hope your fiancee gets better soon.
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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on
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I work exclusively from home on multiple jobs and projects.
What is this "days" thing you speak of? My time is segmented into "awake" and "asleep". I just wish someone would turn off that big, bright light outside. Someone leaves it on for like 15 whole hours a day. How cna they pay for that much electricity?!
::twitch::
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Permalink Reply by Carl Pickering on -
I worked from home for about a year with one job, 4 days at home 1 day in the office after a 300 mile drive.. I instantly thought it would be awesome to work from home, but then it started to get boring. Seeing the same 4 walls over and over again.
To combat the problem, I setup one of my rooms as an office and kept my home pc and work pc separate so that when I was on my person stuff I wouldn't think I was working. It worked really well.
Try and find a way of keeping work and personal separate. It worked well for me
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Permalink Reply by Vic Redondo on -
Set the time schedule is a must as mentioned. You sound like an extrovert to an extent which most network admins should be. I would suggest working out, it would be even better to find someone as a partner (motivation). I've been in your shoe's before and I had to make sure to have contact with at least 5 people each day. My girlfriend laughed at me when I said this but I told her I had to ensure one contact always had some form of drama in their life. I figured some dynamics instead of constant stability would keep things interesting. Turns out it was the best thing to do. Also I was very adamant with any work waiting to "Pile on me" to be given to me, the communications issue is key here. Level 1 support being the quick fix, is what will pile ;therefore, I kept level 1 minimum as possible (worked on such problems after lunch. Now here is the big one and it works nice for the tax break as well. If its feasible take one area in your house and cut it off from home decor. I mean strip it to bare essentials wall and carpet, tile, or wood. Bring in only the must haves for work and keep a lock on the door. You'll have your own office at home, won't be disturbed, and when you are finishing your day locking up that door will tell your brain work is done and now I have other things to do. It helps because I'm the type of person who leaves work at work and I never bring it home. You can take it a step further by wearing the attire too because once you take off the shoes your sense of relief and transition takes place. Adam puts it on point for ritual adam, carl, and richard hit all my points but Im just adding on a social/interpersonal level full balance is key. Hope your fiancee is better these days.
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