Today, for the first time in five days, I left my house. I had knee surgery last Thursday, so I’ve been working from home.
You’d think it would make no difference — after all, all I do anyway is type at a keyboard and talk on the phone — but I’ve been almost completely unproductive these last few days.
This morning (actually, about 15 minutes ago), my wife dropped my off at my office and I’m loving it. Something about this place just puts me in the groove instantly.
And that’s my point: You need to do whatever it takes to create a space that you love to work in. The benefit of doing so, even if it costs you a few dollars more a month, is better focus, better results, and, maybe most importantly, a great feeling about your work.
Gotta go. She’ll be back for me in four hours and I’m looking forward to enjoying every minute of “work” today!
First, I send your knee lots of good healing joojoo!
And I totally get what you mean.
I’ve worked from home for the last 9 years and LOVE it. But I’ve also noticed that when my home environment’s out of whack, so am I.
When my husband and I started zenning our lives a couple of years ago, it put a real crimp in my creative energy.
We renovated (oy), then purged 20 years of stuff (what a relief), and sold our house in the burbs. And every step cramped my style in slightly different ways.
If things were scattered – and jeez, when you’re renovating, purging and moving, scattered is where its at – so was I.
After a week or two, I found I had to work out of the house a couple of days a week to find some creative cool again.
After we relocated full-time to our cottage on Lake Huron, my work life got a big jolt of pure pleasure. It was like somebody’d plugged me into a battery pack, and I’ve been largely humming on that ever since.
But even thought I love it heare, its been a loong, cold winter out here on the lake: a little cabin fever had started to set in.
After hearing myself complain about feeling ‘cramped’ and ‘blah’, I converted our one small guestroom, into an office, added some splashy color, within-arms-reach organization tools, and a workstation set-up no ‘efficiency expert’ in the world would approve (but my faithful pooch loves), and poof!
I’m cruising again!
Now, if only the temperature would stay above 37…
I feel the same way. I can’t work too well at home, there are too many things competing for my attention, from TV to children.