It is very hard working from home. There. I said it. It is out there.
It is also awesome, don't doubt it. How else can you work in shorts, no bra, ratty t shirt and listen to music as loud as you want while you work?
The concept of company sanctioned working from home (if you are employed somewhere) is relatively new, free lancers and self employed people have been doing it for ages. I, however, have changed my stances several times on WFH (as we fondly call it) over the past few years. It was blissful being able to WFH, I was very grateful to the organisation I am working for, that it was possible to alternate between going to office and WFH. I worked from home when I needed to create, or focus on something hard. The grass was lush green on the other side.
Now, I am working from home all the time. I rarely go for meetings, but until more developments happen in the project I am heading, this is going to be the status. Me, myself, my laptop, the laptop table and internet. Of course coffee, copious amounts of coffee...and snacks, because working alone at home works up an appetite.
The experience graph went from absolute excitation, to complete demotivation, sometimes plateaued at a desirable balanced state and then oscillated wildly between the two stages mentioned already. I started analysing why this happens. After much research I could best relate to the work of one Matthew Inman, popularly known as the creator of The Oatmeal, a dark yet delightful set of comics, games and other entertaining yet informative artwork.
It needs a lot of discipline, pushing yourself and a real interest to be able to work from home at a good pace, consistently. It works well if there are strict deadlines and demanding work, the need to pushing one self is reduced. But, without these, it is very easy to find oneself way too relaxed not unlike a lethargic sloth. I get here, loath myself for allowing myself to become the slob/sloth, get really pissed with myself, push hard and get back up the motivation to keep pushing things. This is a cycle that I can't wait to break.
It is also awesome, don't doubt it. How else can you work in shorts, no bra, ratty t shirt and listen to music as loud as you want while you work?
The concept of company sanctioned working from home (if you are employed somewhere) is relatively new, free lancers and self employed people have been doing it for ages. I, however, have changed my stances several times on WFH (as we fondly call it) over the past few years. It was blissful being able to WFH, I was very grateful to the organisation I am working for, that it was possible to alternate between going to office and WFH. I worked from home when I needed to create, or focus on something hard. The grass was lush green on the other side.
Now, I am working from home all the time. I rarely go for meetings, but until more developments happen in the project I am heading, this is going to be the status. Me, myself, my laptop, the laptop table and internet. Of course coffee, copious amounts of coffee...and snacks, because working alone at home works up an appetite.
The experience graph went from absolute excitation, to complete demotivation, sometimes plateaued at a desirable balanced state and then oscillated wildly between the two stages mentioned already. I started analysing why this happens. After much research I could best relate to the work of one Matthew Inman, popularly known as the creator of The Oatmeal, a dark yet delightful set of comics, games and other entertaining yet informative artwork.
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| Fluctuation of Motivation while Working from Home |
It needs a lot of discipline, pushing yourself and a real interest to be able to work from home at a good pace, consistently. It works well if there are strict deadlines and demanding work, the need to pushing one self is reduced. But, without these, it is very easy to find oneself way too relaxed not unlike a lethargic sloth. I get here, loath myself for allowing myself to become the slob/sloth, get really pissed with myself, push hard and get back up the motivation to keep pushing things. This is a cycle that I can't wait to break.
Apart from the excitation conundrum, I miss dressing up, the general banter with colleagues, bouncing off ideas (which helps a lot), general water cooler gossips and what I miss the most, a lot of birthday cakes.
By now you will either laugh at the bipolar nature of this blog shaped rant, or relate very hard to what I just wrote. If you do relate and have managed to break the ugly sloth-workaholic-sloth cycle, please enlighten me oh master.
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