Home Office / Challenges

March 4, 2013

home office challenges Ever since I first started writing posts on From China Village, when my only goal was to reassure my parents that I was safe and sound and surviving over here, I’ve found the writing and editing to be incredibly therapeutic. I like processing challenges and new situations by writing about them. So, what better way to help myself adjust to this new working-from-home life than to write about it and have a discussion with you all about it!

I thought it would be fun to do a little March mini-series. I’m calling it Home Office. We’re starting this week talking about the challenges that arise when working from home, and we’ll cover resources, tips, and what a typical day looks like over the next month. I’m no expert – heck, I only started a few months ago! – so I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts, suggestions, and advice about what works for you if you’ve ever been in the same position. I’m looking forward to your help!

So we’ll dive right in. Here are a few of the challenges I’ve encountered over the last few months.

Space

At this very moment, I am sitting at my dining room table at my computer. I am surrounded by papers and notebooks and there is a cat snoring on the chair next to me. We have another little room in the house with a desk, but the internet won’t reach that far! By day, I work from the dining room table, and when we need to eat dinner, I try to squish my things down at the other end of the table.

I’m also learning quite quickly that I need my space to be tidy in order to get to work. Since I can see about a third of our apartment from my table, there’s always some picking up or straightening up to do before I work or even throughout the day. And there are always, always big pairs of basketball sneakers that need putting away at least once a day.  This, of course, can get out of hand – most days I try not to clean up until I’ve been sitting for a few hours and need a stretch. That’s a perfect time to vacuum or do some dishes!

Solitude

One of my favorite things about working from home is that I actually get to see my darling husband a little more often. But that’s also proving a little difficult with my new set up. If I’m writing, I usually take a break to make him a coffee or chat about the day. But if I’m in the middle of an interview or have a deadline, sometimes I wish I could just shut the door to my office for a little peace!

On the other hand, when Michael is gone for twelve hours straight or I have a stretch of days without meetings, it can get quite lonely. Poor Michael often walks through the door to an ambush of questions about his day and the outside world. Luckily, the cat keeps me company between his naps!

Time

I mentioned this last week. Some days, there just aren’t enough hours to get through the to-do list! Some of what I’m doing currently involves sitting at the computer and writing, and some projects necessitate meetings in the city centre. And sometimes you just need to meet a friend for coffee to catch up! I usually try to break my week into days I have to leave the house and days I don’t. Each week, I protect at least a few days just for staying at home and writing or creating.

Social media is such a big part of my job, from promoting blog posts to researching or contacting people for collaborations or projects, but it can be a huge time suck. I still haven’t quite figured out how to avoid getting sucked into the internet rabbit hole, but one of my latest tricks is to only access social media on my phone. That way I’m not tempted to click into those tabs on my computer every five minutes!

So there youhave three big challenges I’ve found over the last few months. Of course, they’re not challenges to complain about (after all, I know how lucky I am to do what I’m doing!), but challenges to conquer. Any thoughts? Tips? Lessons learned the hard way? I’d love to learn from you!

I came across this article about working from home in the Irish Times over the weekend. It gave me a chuckle!

8 Comments

  • Reply Marie March 4, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    Oh Emily I can relate! I’ve been working from home for a few years and share a home office with my hubby.

    I find having an office where you can close the door and just have work stuff makes it so much easier, even if it means getting a super-long internet cable. Structure is also really important – some kind of daily/weekly routine stops work/leisure bleeding into each other as much.

    In the last few months we’ve also started going for a little walk at lunch time – it’s great to have a break and get some sunlight, it’s easy to go a few days without being outside in daylight without noticing it, especially in winter.

    For all it’s challenges I find working from home fantastic, it just takes a little bit of getting used to!

  • Reply Holly March 5, 2013 at 7:59 am

    I worked from home for a few days back when we had the “big snow” here in Dublin. I got stuck in the trap of not getting out of my pyjamas til lunch time once or twice and found what worked best was if I got up, got dressed and did my make up as if I was going to work! Then I felt ready to work. I also found it much easier to put the head down and work if the house was tidy around me – as you have mentioned – otherwise I kept interrupting myself to put something away or clean! I wish I could work from home every day – ultimately it would certainly be a goal for me – but I can see how it has challenges of its own!

  • Reply Caroline@Bibliocook March 5, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    I used to have a space that I called my home office; now my workspace is the end of the kitchen table while children nap! Have to work with chaos all around me otherwise nothing gets done. It certainly makes for a lot of stops and starts in the working day.

  • Reply Rachael March 8, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    Great idea for a series! And it so happens I’m having a (rare) working from home day (not going so well, I’m on blogs!!) My problem is that my study has a window which hasn’t had panes changed in about 100 years…..it’s fuppin’ freeeezing! But with the bill being picked up by me, I’m reluctant to put it on, a friend in a similar house worked from home over Christmas and her heating bill was €800!!!! How do you manage, do you keep the heat on at home all day or just wrap up?

    • Reply emily March 12, 2013 at 9:41 am

      We’re having a struggle with that at the moment as well. When the sun is out, our house heats up quickly until about 3 or 4, but when it’s grey (like it is most days) I turn the heat on in the morning then rely on a space heater and hot water bottles as much as I can. I also bundle – warm socks and lots of layers!

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