Do you take working at home for granted?
This past week, I realized that I take working at home for granted way too much. It's easy to fall into the daily drudgery of wake up, work, eat supper and work some more. So, I've come up with things to remember to keep the work at home woes at bay.
- First of all remember that you are in a unique situation. While work at home jobs are on the rise we are still in the minority. Feel special for that, you're a rugged individual who plays by your own rules.
- While your friends were getting up at 6:00 so they could get ready and get through traffic, you were still sleeping. When they get off work at 5 or 6 their commute home is maybe a 1/2 hour to an hour and a half. Your commute might be as simple as pushing the off button on your computer, or the six steps it takes to leave your office.
- Do you have a family? I do, and this is the most awesome reason for working at home. Do something special over lunch at least once a week (why not every day?) with them. Why? Because you can - your colleagues are all stuck at the office. Here's what we do: picnic at the park, go to the zoo, go to a museum, lunch at a special restaurant (the kind with slides), talk a walk, take a drive, etc.
- Office politics don't exist at home, along with all the annoying "Can you help me..." interruptions.
- I'm working in my underwear, are you?
I think the biggest one out of that list is definitely the third point - if you work at home with your family you need to take advantage of that. Whenever I get down and think that I'm not getting any work done because my daughter is bouncing off the walls while my son is screaming, I just think back to the days when I had an at work job and pretty much missed the first 2 years of my daughter's life. Now I get to see my son grow up everyday, and be there for his first everything. It's really cool.