Foo - Tips on surviving WFH?

WFH=work from home

Wednesday the geniuses at our home office decided to layoff most of my coworkers and friends.
The six of us left are being relocated to home offices July 1st.
I work from home twice a week and barely find it tolerable.
My pathetic social life is mostly work with a few club rides thrown in since I am a bit of an introvert.
However, this is going to turn me into a hermit.

Thoughts from any other WFHers?

Use the time you used to commute to go to coffee shops or somewhere that there are real live people. You might even go to a gym. I used to go for a walk, just to clear my head, in a nearby park.

Embrace your inner hermitude.

Other people generally suck.

Embrace your inner hermitude.

Other people generally suck.

+1

I'd pay cash for his job............

It's not that wonderful. Eventually I will be let go as well.
The only thing keeping me at my job is the economy (lack of jobs) and 20 weeks of severance pay.
I like ctreedude's ideas. I can also start hitting the mid week club rides when my son is at his mom's house.

Update your computer security and work from a coffeeshop every once in a while, if you don't need a phone all the time, for example. ;)

When the the home office is getting annoying I go to restaurants, coffee shops, bars, etc... A lot of places have free wifi if you don't have a mobile aircard.

Set up a home-office that's completely separated from any domestic duties. Use it only for work and close the door and lock yourself in. When working from home, it's all too easy to take breaks and grab a snack from the fridge. You must have the discipline to do an 8-hr work day at home just like back at the office.

It maybe be more relaxed for you, but for me, having only worked for myself and my own businesses, I found that being ruthless and intentional was the only way it could've worked. I've seen way too many other people fail at their own businesses based out of the home because they were sloppy with managing themselves.

Set up a home-office that's completely separated from any domestic duties. Use it only for work and close the door and lock yourself in. When working from home, it's all too easy to take breaks and grab a snack from the fridge. You must have the discipline to do an 8-hr work day at home just like back at the office.

I maybe be more relaxed for you, but for me, having only worked for myself and my own businesses, I found that being ruthless and intentional was the only way it could've worked. I've seen way too many other people fail at their own businesses based out of the home because they were sloppy with managing themselves.

I've heard this advice many, many times from successful entrepreneurs.


Not that I have that kind of self-discipline. :o Hopefully it's something that can be learned.

WFH=work from home

Wednesday the geniuses at our home office decided to layoff most of my coworkers and friends.
The six of us left are being relocated to home offices July 1st.
I work from home twice a week and barely find it tolerable.
My pathetic social life is mostly work with a few club rides thrown in since I am a bit of an introvert.
However, this is going to turn me into a hermit.

Thoughts from any other WFHers?

https://www.wegmans.com/prodimg/073/200/071990477073.jpg

Set up a home-office that's completely separated from any domestic duties. Use it only for work and close the door and lock yourself in. When working from home, it's all too easy to take breaks and grab a snack from the fridge. You must have the discipline to do an 8-hr work day at home just like back at the office.

It maybe be more relaxed for you, but for me, having only worked for myself and my own businesses, I found that being ruthless and intentional was the only way it could've worked. I've seen way too many other people fail at their own businesses based out of the home because they were sloppy with managing themselves.

Excellent advice.
Thank you. :)

I have been pondering where to setup my home office and you just settled it for me. The spare bedroom it is. That and you hit the nail on the head regarding self management. When I work from home I either work way too much or not enough.

Perhaps if this works out I can consider it as a first step to self employment. It has always been my dream to work for myself but I have never had the balls to do it. With a pending layoff someday down the road.....
Plus, one of my friends is setting up an consulting business. Maybe he needs an ETL designer\programmer.

https://www.wegmans.com/prodimg/073/200/071990477073.jpg

Ew!

http://www.mkewired.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/breckenridge_oatmeal_stout1-225x300.jpg

:D

I work from home in a similar field as you, and I'm self employed. It's a little different for me, since I don't have to be "in the office" a specific time, I just have to get my projects done.

You do need discipline. I definitely spend too much time on bikeforums and other assorted BS when I should be working, but I just handle it by setting up a very easy way to "clock in / clock out" - and I hold myself to a strict standard of no screwing around on company time. That means some days that I meant to be whole work days I only can bill a few hours, but so be it.

If you can manage it, set up working hours for yourself, and stick to them - and that includes the END of the day. I usually get up early naturally, and either start working right away (no commute = no waste of time) or ride early and then work later. Something that clearly marks the end of the work day is good, too - a beer, a trip to the grocery store, a bike ride.

As to the social thing - yeah, that's tough - you have to intentionally make time for social activities. I live with my boyfriend, so there's at least one social thing - but I do also make myself set up 'play dates' with my friends, both to bike and do other stuff, like movies or happy hour. In winter I had a knitting group (go ahead and laugh).

If you can manage flexible working hours, then the summer is great for working at home and lots of riding too. Winter is another story.

Any time you want to ride in boulder or golden - especially long hard climbing rides - give me a buzz.

I would love to ride. :)

My company does require us to stick to a set schedule.

I started working from home in April. Honestly, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Staying home with the puppy is nice, and not having the commute is great, but my social life is pretty much non-existent now. My wonderful boyfriend just set up my own "office" today, so hopefully that'll help me feel a little more... motivated, I guess. :shrug: Doesn't help with the social life thing, though, but I'm probably going to be starting school soon, which should help. ;)

I here you. 2 days a week is my limit.
I am going to miss my friends \ coworkers. I used to be completely anti social until I started this job.
Despite beingan introvert I like socializing with my coworkers.
Strangely enough, surviving many a layoff with them for 9 years has helped make most of us friends.
Plus, my social life is almost non existent outside work. Guess I will need to work on that.

As much as home offices have their disadvantages, I wish my current job was eligible for WAH. Technically, it is as at least 95% is done on a computer that's networked into a large server system. That's where our work comes from. The small remainder is done by telephone, which is also powered by some kind of server. With a cable or DSL internet service and the right computer, a home office would be a cinch. But we handle alot of sensitive health and ID data, so they're not yet comfortable with the WAH idea.

The reason I want to WAH is that about 17 of us are packed into a small room 3 to a table. Not much room to make for easy organization. Close quarters make it easy to spread illness. Room thermostat sometimes has a mind of its own. Coworker on one side of me is a nice guy, but I swear he can't go 5 minutes without wanting to start some kind of conversation. I'm polite and all, but a little more of a hermit than that.

I've been told that one of the best things a WAH person can do for themselves is to do their morning/shift start routine just like they would if they were going to the office. Get up, shower/bathe, then get dressed in office-appropriate clothing. Clothes add a disciplined element to the scenario. Sitting around unwashed in PJs, bathrobe and bunny slippers leaves you in a sleepytime frame of mind.

Work in the spare bedroom, not a common room in the house. When you in that room you are at work.
Stay the hell away from the TV.
If you get a lot of calls at home, turn the ringers off and let the answering machine get it during work hours.

WFH=work from home

Wednesday the geniuses at our home office decided to layoff most of my coworkers and friends.
The six of us left are being relocated to home offices July 1st.
I work from home twice a week and barely find it tolerable.
My pathetic social life is mostly work with a few club rides thrown in since I am a bit of an introvert.
However, this is going to turn me into a hermit.

Thoughts from any other WFHers?

When I "worked at home," this is usually what I did:

Went to Starbucks and chatted up women (mentioning work makes you seem important; I got a date once that way! :D)
Rode around for "lunch break" to move to other Starbucks while getting a ride in
Rode to my school to do some work and chat with friends.
Do as little work as possible, but enough to avoid performance complaints.


When I really worked from home, I usually worked and slept during lunch. If I was with my girlfriend at the time, I probably would have just raided her house and "worked" there (or had her come over for "lunch").

NOTE: I only worked from home three times or so during my six-month tenure with them, precisely for these reasons. For me, "home" (which is practically most of Brooklyn and Manhattan) is great for short bursts of workflow, but horrible for longer periods.

Set up a home-office that's completely separated from any domestic duties. Use it only for work and close the door and lock yourself in. When working from home, it's all too easy to take breaks and grab a snack from the fridge. You must have the discipline to do an 8-hr work day at home just like back at the office.

It maybe be more relaxed for you, but for me, having only worked for myself and my own businesses, I found that being ruthless and intentional was the only way it could've worked. I've seen way too many other people fail at their own businesses based out of the home because they were sloppy with managing themselves.

This works exactly like studying; you find a place that you know you can focus on the work, go there and do it. If you have a lot of work to do, this is absolutely great. However, if your work is somewhat menial and doesn't require a full day of dedication, then this could work against you (in my opinion).

Menial work would be amazing.
I am an ETL designer\programmer who instructs coders on what to code.
Wait a sec.... documentation could count as menial. :p
Man I hate documentation.

I was a co-op employee, so my role was much less critical. My tasks were large, but were spread out over a very long period of time. (Actually, I had to support it up until I left.) Thus, I could play around with my time away from the office and still get a good amount of work done.

Do as little work as possible, but enough to avoid performance complaints.
I now see why we needed the huge corporate bailouts.

I now see why we needed the huge corporate bailouts.

LOL; you thought executives in massive corporations actually work?

More seriously, my responsibility was singular for most of my time there. Thus, it was practically impossible to spend a solid work day maintaining the project I was assigned, especially when I was responsible for maintaining it throughout my entire term.

Man I hate documentation.

Good code and good user interfaces need no documentation. (You probably know that and do the docs just because your org requires it ;))

I did the telecommute thing for three years.

Have a seperate room to work in that is not a common area.

Turn off your home phone if at all possible, let the voicemail do it's thing.

I actually left my house and walked around the block, when I got home, I was at work. At the end of the day I walked out of the front door and walked around the block, when I got home, I was home from work.

If you have a fixed set of work hours, stick to them. It's far too easy to work 60 hours when a great idea hits you and your office is right there.

If you have flex hours, make use of your most productive hours such as very early or very late. This can lead to extra hours if you don't balance it with kicking back during what are your non peak hours.

Interaction with co-workers is important. Talk to them about setting up "lunch" days where you meet and interact.

Schedule out of the house events just like you would a staff meeting if you start to become a hermit.

Invest in a nerf basketball hoop for your trash can. This cannot be stressed enough.

Embrace your inner introvert. Become the hermit you always wanted to be. :thumb:

I have been trying to go in the opposite direction of a hermit. Apparently, the powers that be have a different idea.

I have been trying to go in the opposite direction of a hermit. Apparently, the powers that be have a different idea.

I joked with my wife once how I'd love to get the 'work from home' gig. She said she was adamantly against it because I was to hermitesque already.

This works exactly like studying; you find a place that you know you can focus on the work, go there and do it. If you have a lot of work to do, this is absolutely great. However, if your work is somewhat menial and doesn't require a full day of dedication, then this could work against you (in my opinion).Not sure how it can work against you. It's about being productive and efficient; cranking out a lot of good work per hour. Back when I did contract-work and got paid on a per-project basis, I'd be twice as efficient (or more) than most other people. Actually got into the $1k/hr billing range a couple times.

On light days where I don't have a lot of do, I'm done by 10am and end up going for a bike-ride and hitting the links for the rest of the day. It'd rather to that than be stuck at home, making continuous trips between the office and the fridge and the TV and the hot-tub just to check in and do a little work here and there. Just get it done and be done... completley. Then spend quality time enjoying life without the thoughts of half-done work nagging you in the back of your head.

I'd at least recommend separating computers, or at least have work and home users, so its easier to resist the temptation to take a quick web browsing break... which can turn into hours.

I can't even resist that temptation at work. At least now with two computers they can not track me.

Not sure how it can work against you. It's about being productive and efficient; cranking out a lot of good work per hour. Back when I did contract-work and got paid on a per-project basis, I'd be twice as efficient (or more) than most other people. Actually got into the $1k/hr billing range a couple times.

On light days where I don't have a lot of do, I'm done by 10am and end up going for a bike-ride and hitting the links for the rest of the day. It'd rather to that than be stuck at home, making continuous trips between the office and the fridge and the TV and the hot-tub just to check in and do a little work here and there. Just get it done and be done... completley. Then spend quality time enjoying life without the thoughts of half-done work nagging you in the back of your head.

I thought you were recommending the isolation approach regardless of the volume of work presented. In that case, then I agree with you more (as I usually do; you know your ish!).

Set up a home-office that's completely separated from any domestic duties. Use it only for work and close the door and lock yourself in. When working from home, it's all too easy to take breaks and grab a snack from the fridge. You must have the discipline to do an 8-hr work day at home just like back at the office.

It maybe be more relaxed for you, but for me, having only worked for myself and my own businesses, I found that being ruthless and intentional was the only way it could've worked. I've seen way too many other people fail at their own businesses based out of the home because they were sloppy with managing themselves.

There's no issue with grabbing a snack from the fridge, or taking 5 minutes to go check on the garden. As long as you're putting in the requisite amount of hours and getting work done.

I've been doing the WFH thing for about 4 years now. I haven't even been to the old office once this year.