The 60sec commute

Part 2 of some posts that are connected to work.
Something I need to make clear before someone reads into these words things that are not there – I love my work, the people I work with and everything the company stands for. I am making personal observations and there is no hidden message / agenda.

It takes a minute or less from me to get out of bed and switch the monitor on. It takes only a few more to go get a coffee. Working from home blends work and life together far more than you may think.

I have probably said before that I will not mention my nursing career again but I need to this time. I had 3 ways of getting to/from work. Walking took around 40-50  minutes, cycling took around 25 and the car took considerably less. The shorter the time the less the separation between the two roles. The less the separation meant less focus, taking more time when I was in the role to be the role. Planning work / home life is important regardless of the work and I always felt that cycling to work was ideal. It gave me the perfect amount of time with the fewest distractions. It was also an ideal way to relax afterwards. I found that with the car it was swapping one stress for another then arriving back home with the residue of work stress still there. I will clarify the stress. Workload does not stress me. If there is 100 things to do and I’m the only one to do it then I’ll get on and work through. Stressing about this does no good, makes work take longer.  Anyway, point is that putting physical distance between work helped me to separate the two roles, it benefitted both roles.

The most frustrating things I deal with are blogs that have been suspended and the person asks why. Sometimes this is resolved positively but sometimes not. The ‘not ones’ generally involve phrases like “But Blogger let me do it” and their failure to understand that we just don’t allow PTC MLM penis-enlarging foreclosure avoidance schemes. And the good thing about working from home is that I can say what I want out loud, put some music on, go for a walk or something else that takes me away from the machine. The flip side of course is that if this happens just before we all sit down for a meal then some of that frustration could come with me to the table. (It’s fair to say that my family know the difference between wordpress.com and blogger.com). Of course this is no different to people that use laptops from the office, or Blackberrys. But it is different in that they move about, go to/from an office. The reverse is true. If Jacq and I have had words (very rare to be honest) or I am annoyed at something else then when I walk in and sit in front of the monitors my mood, my potential responses can be influenced.

Looking more at the domestic side, if someone calls I’m always around (this is great for deliveries). I can get called downstairs for good news, to chat about something. I’m here for J when she needs, can do the housework (which I find relaxing), go shopping so in that way I get a mini-break from work and work gets a happier me back. It’s far from all being negative.

But I mentioned in my previous post about the need for privacy and the above is all part of that. I don’t  know if this is making sense yet – I hope another post does.