Home Training

“It takes a special type of discipline to stay motivated in the confines of your own room.”
“It’s not for everybody, that’s for sure.”

That was the tail end of a conversation that I had today with a friend of mine as we both took a break for a mid-afternoon, non-work related phone call. He was explaining how he had been ultra-productive today, pulling his laptop up into bed just after awakening at 8am and working almost non-stop until we spoke around 3pm. To me, a fellow toiler in the ranks of the work-at-home soldiers, it sounded impressive, but maybe for a slightly different reason than you might think. Staying in bed and being productive was the part that struck me. My bed is far too comfortable to want to do anything but sleep on it. Many a morning workout has been scrapped by the false notion that I could hit the snooze button one more time or lay there for a moment with my eyes open and think about the day that lay ahead. That is simply a losing battle for me. His strategy was that by pulling his laptop into bed and getting right to work, he could start immediately before anything else in his environment had the chance to become a distraction. To each his own, I guess. For me, getting up and out of bed is the pivotal moment for productivity no matter what I’m trying to do that day. On a perfect day, I will roll out on to the floor and do some push-ups before anything else to get the blood flowing and to ensure that just in case the day starts to get away, that I did SOMETHING. I don’t know why, but if there is not at least an ounce of exercise or physical activity in my day, I feel like it was a waste.

“Taking a shower and getting dressed are huge for my productivity,” I interjected.

He laughed, but in a knowing way that let me know that he could relate. Exercising a little hygiene is the least that I can do. The VERY least. But that’s pretty major when you know that you’re not going to run into anybody. Working at home means not having to shave, comb your hair, or obsess over whether or not your clothes match. You don’t have to iron and actually, don’t even have to wear them if you don’t want to. Those George Jetson video phones are not standard issue in everybody’s house yet, so you can still sound professional while taking a conference call lying on your couch watching Sportscenter in your boxers. Clothes truly do not make the man, but they don’t have to know that.

Those naysayers that doubt that anything productive goes on outside of the office are usually the ones that don’t possess the “discipline” or skills to do it. I am perfectly comfortable having some music or television on in the background, talking on the phone, and cooking something with my free hand while peeking at the laptop that I have placed on the countertop. Working at home clearly enhances my multi-tasking skills. At work, I’d be sitting in a cubicle and doing one thing at a time. Making matters worse, there’s always that person that wants to stop by your cubicle and tell you all about their weekend. It usually starts out innocently enough. It’s often even a work related conversation. Where they go wrong, however, is when they can’t seem to nail the dismount. Yes, I’m still fully in Olympic mode right now. It’s like when you watch a gymnast do a near flawless routine and you are on pins and needles as they execute each intricate twist, turn, and flip only to take that extra step or even fall down on the landing. I almost want to let out the same disappointed sigh when somebody does this at work. “Ah…you were doing so well,” I think to myself. “Even with that high degree of difficulty, you were technically flawless and yet graceful,” I might say to them if they were looking to me like an athlete does at the judges marks on the scoreboard. “But you just couldn’t finish.” It’s like I always tell kids that are so impressed by the And 1 streetballers that are making a clown show out of my beloved game of basketball. You can do all of those side to side moves, but if you miss the shot after all of that, what was the point? Believe me, I’m the first one to hold up the 10s when someone does the get-in, get-out question in my cube. But it happens so rarely though that navigating your way to a productive work day can be no small feat. It’s bad enough that I have to waste more than 2 hours a day in travel to and from the office. If I don’t get what I wanted to get done while I’m there, I’m really feeling defeated.

That is why I stay home whenever possible. Without that commute time, I can interface with my customers in other time zones as soon as I get out of bed. I can enjoy the luxuries that my suuuuuuuuuper fast internet connection affords me. I can work until I’m done working and not have to worry about leaving early to get into that traffic jam so that I can hurry to take one of my kids to practice. I’m truly blessed to be able to work this way, and if definitely suits me. Life is good when you get to essentially manage your own schedule.