Working from home

For the past four weeks, we’ve been working from home (mostly). I’ve had to go in occasionally for a few things here and there, but generally speaking, I get up in the morning, shave, brush my teeth, grab a shower, and get dressed. I usually get done with my morning routine just in time for the first conference call of the day at 0830. While I’m on that call, I make a cuppa tea and I grab a bowl of cereal afterwards. Then, I’m in my work laptop fighting against the crappy internet connection we have at home along with the even crappier work intranet. Normally, I answer more calls than I make and I’m always the leader for conference calls since no one else seems to be trusted enough to do the job. Usually, it’s 1300 before I realize it, and I’m trying to cram a quick snack down my throat along with a trip to the bathroom before the afternoon round of conference calls happen. I do what I can throughout the day to help out around the house, keep the family entertained as much as possible and try to get enough work done to feel like I’ve been productive.

It’s always 1600 before I realize what’s happened. I’ve made it a rule that I get off the work computer at that point unless it’s an emergency; I don’t answer messages or emails after that point. 1600 is the end of the work day if I’m in the office, and even though I sometimes stay longer than that, I think it’s a good idea to have strict boundaries when working from home. Otherwise, I’d be on the computer endlessly just waiting for emails to come in or the phone to ring. I don’t check email on the weekend or after normal working hours, that time is reserved for me and my family. I like to think of the work whistle going off and Fred Flintstone sliding down the tail of his dinosaur-crane into the car and on his way home to Yabba-Dabba-Doo his own thing.

My wife makes dinner, we eat as a family, the kids clean up afterwards, then, I become a couch-potato. Some nights we watch a movie together, some nights I play a game on the PS4 for a few hours, I’m in bed by 1000 ever night, then lather, rinse, repeat. Nothing changes and there seems to be no end in sight.

I don’t feel like I’m working as hard from home as I do when I’m in the office, but the days keep flying right on by! I thought working from home was going to be easy and fun, that I’d have time to do things around the house that I’ve been meaning to do, but I don’t. I barely have time for myself to get to the bathroom throughout the day. I’ve had to set a timer to go off ten minutes before my next meeting to I can either grab a bathroom break, a refill on my tea or water, and then a few minutes to dial-in to the next conference call. When I get to the end of the workday, I’m exhausted!

When all of this started, I wanted to get things done around my house. I wanted to make time to go for a walk everyday, I wanted to carve time out to write more, to play my guitar, to play more games, to work out, or to read. I guess the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions. I intended to all these things and I haven’t gotten to them. I may have mis-managed my expectations for working from home.

What problems have you noticed working from home? Let me know in the comments below.