I can't hear you over all this silence.

One of the most difficult things for me to do while working at home is to fill the silent background noise of a home office with something meaningful but not distracting.

Every month or so I get to go to Denver and spend a regular work day in a real office. One of the things that sticks out for me most about being there is that I don't find the need to break the silence barrier. By that I mean the moments during the day that we just need some kind of "noise" to get us through the monotonous moments of life. Music, talk radio, TV, audio books, movies and more help us all through our day. Some times it is just for pure entertainment purposes, other times it is to fill gaps in a somewhat mindless task—driving or repetitive work for example—but yet there are other times that it is there to distract us from ether facing a difficult task or situation.

When I am in the office, I treasure this "noise". It is real, unscripted, genuine and fresh. Each conversation and sound is there because of a group of people united in a common cause. Every scratch of the office is because people are there with one purpose. I am there for the same reason they are. We are a team. When I am at home—except for when my family is around—most sounds would be there with or with out me. My neighbor mowing his lawn has nothing to do with me sitting in my office. Cars go by, planes fly over head, kids walk down the street. These are the sounds of my home office. Very few of the sounds have anything to do with what I am doing. But when I am in the Denver office. I know that the sounds that are made there are the sounds of my team. And even when I am not there, I know that what I do from 500 miles away contributes to the sounds there. I enjoy that.

When I am back home I know that what I do still has impact, but the echos of sounds in Denver are few and far between. So how do I overcome this lack of  "noise" in my day?

Some days it is talk radio. Talk radio is for the most part unscripted fresh and new. But again it happens with or without me. And in recent years has become almost preachy and more than I can handle. For years talk radio was my staple. It would be on for the whole day. I am now down to about 15 -30 min a day.

Other days it is music, but you can only listen to your playlist so many times before you go crazy. Then there is TV. This is the worst one, because you really can't focus to well on work while trying to keep track of modern plots and story lines. I did try audio books, but I am too picky about peoples voices and get frustrated at the reader more that I can listen to the book. So recently I have just turned it all off and try to get into my work. I try to remember that what I am doing has an impact on others, and is important. I have also tried to reach out to my co-workers a little more. We all have Skype and we are all available for quick comments. I must admit that I am not doing too well at it right now. After 10 years of mostly business only communication, I think I catch them off guard if I go beyond the weather. 

I don't think there is a magic solution for this problem. Find what works for you and eliminate things that you notice are stealing time form your employer (if you are self employed, then you are stealing from yourself).

If you live near your office, take the opportunity to stop by every once in a while. Meet people for lunch half way even if you don't plan on going all the way into the office. Any one in Denver want to meet for lunch in Rawlings?

Top 10 things I like about working from home.

1. The other staff
2. The commute
3. The dress code
4. The break rooms
5. The parking
6. The office space
7. The multitaskability
8. The peace
9. The background music
10.The food.

Weekends should still be weekends.

I am excited to have an extra day in the weekend tomorrow. If I can I will do nothing work related. With the "office" so close, it is easy to let work creep into my weekends.

My job has project deadlines and  things that just must be done on time. And like anybody with this type of job you have to do what is needed to meet these deadlines. When I was required to be at the office, I would only give up weekend time if it was absolutely necessary. But working at home has allowed me to zip in the other room for a "quick" min to get some pressing things done. The problem was that things that would have waited until Monday before now became things that I felt I must get done on the weekend. And then things I would have never thought of doing on Sunday-nor would my employer have expected me to do on Sunday-became a standard Sunday activity. My family has become confused about how much work is really expected of me. The truth is that my employer does not expect me to work the weekends. It is just so convenient to get things done when nobody else is in the office, but this convenience has come at a price. For me it is about 40 lbs of excess baggage. Where I used to be active on the weekends I more often than not sit at my desk.

Your time is valuable. Don't give it away nor take it from your family.

So this weekend my goal has been to not do anything work related. Yesterday I got out and did more yard work than I have done in a very long time. Today I got out of the house and went to visit my parents. Tomorrow the plan is to go spend time with my sons exploring places we have not been in SLC and to leave my work at the "office".

Did I mention it is Saturday?

One of the hardest things for me to do is to keep my work life and home life separate. Today is a good example I am sitting at my office desk on a Saturday doing not for work stuff. But as far as my family and my psyche knows, I am still at work. I sit at this desk for 8 hours a day on the job and then I sit for who knows how many more doing non-work related stuff. So as I type this I have unplugged the computer and moved to the other room. This tells both my family and my psyche that I am "home" and that I am available to them.

I have a son who is 10. He has never experienced a Dad going to work everyday and waiting for him to come home in the evening. He instead sees a dad who just walks into the other room and at some point of the day will come out... or not. By relocating myself to a different room when I am doing non work stuff tells him that work is done and Dad is home.

As for my psyche this patterns helps me feel that I am not still working when I am done with work. It is easy to feel trapped by the "office". Making a physical distinction helps me feel that it is OK to be doing non work stuff. Work hours and home hours can get blurred and you can either resent your job for eating up all your time, or feel guilty that you are not giving your employer an honest days work.