The Bad Things About Working From Home (Or The Pool)

Last week we wrote about some of the good things about working from home (or by the pool for that matter). This week is about some of the bad things. Being location independent isn't rosy all the time. Some times it is really hard work. Harder than if you were still in the office every day.

Finding your own routine can be hard
There are some positives to working in the office. You have to be at work by a certain time, your lunch break may be at a certain time, then you can add in your coffee, toilet and cigarette breaks which are spaced in between. Your schedule is largely set out for you.

Creating a similar routine when working away from the office can be very hard. You don't have anyone looking over your shoulder. It's not uncommon to have that eight hour work day that you do in the office spread out into a fifteen hour work day. Perhaps you see a weed in the garden from the kitchen window, out you go to get that weed. Soon you realise you have been out there weeding for an hour. Great, now you have to add on another hour to your work day. On the way back to your computer you decide to flick on the TV for some company. Hrmmm, this looks like an interesting show…

Finding yourself finally buckling down to work at 8pm because, although you “worked” all day, you didn't actually accomplish anything really sucks.

Social skills be gone
You may not like everyone in your office or all the interruptions that these people bring with them. But sharing an office with people can stimulate you to the point where you are happier to go to work than not. Depending on how horrible the people are.

Spending lots of time alone, every day, is hard. Sooner or later, everyone who works away from an office will get bored and lonely. Your communication skills can diminish. You can forget how to actually talk to real live human beings.

The only way you can solve this annoying problem is to maintain social relationships outside of work, get out of the house during work to go and sit in a cafe with wifi or go into the office once in awhile to talk to co-workers in person.

Grunt once if you have experienced a loss of social skills.

What happened to you?
Sitting at home day in day out and not seeing anyone else for a long time can have a nasty effect on you.

Becoming a fat, lazy, pale faced slob can easily come with the territory when working from home. Crawling out of bed at 8:45am, walking to the kitchen table to start work at 9:00am, no shower, in your undies and eating left over frozen pizza for breakfast (because you can) can seem perfectly normal for a location independent person.

Not only will you start to look unhealthy, you will feel unhealthy. Human beings need exercise and an occasional wash to stay healthy. Unless you do something about it quick, it is a downhill spiral to couch potato land. Make sure to take breaks to go for a walk while you can still stand under your own power. Then take a shower. You're stinking up the place.

These are only some of the disadvantages for working from home or by a pool for that matter. If you are location independent, how do you minimize the negatives of not working in an office?