Daydreaming - both a danger and a benefit

Millions of people work from home. I’m one of them. That means that except for time spent in client meetings or at networking events, I spend hours each day in isolation. Yes, Teddy and Darla are around but they’re dogs and don’t usually have good advice when I’m stuck. Lately I’ve been wondering if this is such a good idea. It’s not the working from home part. It’s the working alone part. If you work from home with no one else around you all day then maybe you’ve been wondering the same thing.

So here is my take.

The Upside

• It takes me 10 seconds to get from my bed to my office. 12 if I’ve had a late night
• I can wear silly clothes – this is one of my favorite benefits
• I can daydream and no one will smack me on the head and tell me to snap out of it (see photo above)
• I save a ton of money not renting an office
• I can write off a lot of my expenses
• When  the spirit moves me I can pick up my guitar (visible just over my left shoulder in photo) and bang out some tunes
• Food (very important) is just footsteps away

The Downside

• It’s hard to know when my work day is over
• It’s a little tricky having clients over
• The dogs bark while I’m on the phone
• I can daydream and no one will smack me on the head and tell me to snap out of it (see photo above)
• When  the spirit moves me I can pick up my guitar (visible just over my left shoulder in photo) and bang out some tunes

Distraction or Inspiration?

St. Martin - Daydream or Inspiration?

If you’re paying attention then right now you’re asking yourselves “how can you have two items in both the Upside and Downside lists?” Good question. …and the core of my dilemma. You see there are times during my day when reaching for my guitar clearly is a distraction. But I’m a creative person and more often than not taking a little time in between brilliant ideas to noodle (yes, wrong use of word) on my guitar gets the creative juices flowing. Voila! Distraction turns into inspiration.  That’s why it’s on both the Upside and Downside lists. Same thing for daydreaming. I have photos of St. Martin, the idyllic Caribbean island, pinned to the corkboard over my desk. My wife and I, along with our best friends, vacationed there a few years ago. It’s one of the great memories of my life. But sometimes I blankly stare at these photos daydreaming the day away desperately needing to be smacked on the head and told to snap out of it. Other times I deliberately stare at these photos determined to do the work necessary to get me back there. See where I’m going with this?

And Now Back to You

On balance, working from home works for me. But not because there are more reasons on the Upside list than the Downside list. It’s more subtle than that. It works because it feels right. At some point in the future it might not feel right anymore. When that happens I will reevaluate. What about you? If you work from home what are the issues you struggle with? What distracts you? What works for you? Talk to me.