[147191] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: On Working Remotely
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Harlow)
Mon Dec 5 10:36:39 2011
From: Sean Harlow <sean@seanharlow.info>
In-Reply-To: <201112051009.09009.david@davidradcliffe.org>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 10:35:27 -0500
To: David Radcliffe <david@davidradcliffe.org>
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
I can not agree with this more. I have been working from home for two =
years now and unfortunately live in a small apartment where I do not =
have a dedicated space to assign for "work". My "workstation" is also =
my gaming machine and my servers sit right next to my game consoles. =
It's impossible to get entirely in to a work mindset when your bed is =
literally two feet from where you sit. This one's hard to solve when =
you don't have the space, I can certainly say there's a reason I have =
the most time put in to Skyrim out of all of my friends.
Another thing you might not think about is how much it can interfere =
with anything you consider part of a morning routine. Where you used to =
get up at 8, shower, eat breakfast, get dressed, etc. before heading in =
to start work at 9 it doesn't take long before you realize you can =
instead wake up at 8:59, put on whatever pants might be within arm's =
reach, and sit down at your chair. Next thing you know it's 6 PM and =
you haven't eaten or showered yet. I've started setting an alarm and =
trying to work out in the morning to counter this and it works pretty =
well, but it took some effort.
tl;dr version: Working in an office provides structure that you may =
depend on without realizing it. Be prepared to replicate as much of =
that structure as needed to remain productive and not turn in to a slob.
----------
Sean Harlow
sean@seanharlow.info
On Dec 5, 2011, at 10:09 AM, David Radcliffe wrote:
> I do have to say to anyone planning to work from home, make sure you =
have a=20
> proper work space. I have a computer room. It contains a dozen =
systems,=20
> electronics gear and parts (I used to have time for that hobby), and=20=
> comfortable and ergonomic work spaces. There is no TV. No reason for =
one=20
> because this is the work room. The mind set should be "I am now in =
the work=20
> room, so I am at work." Really works for me.
