Welcome to my world

Not sure why I am doing this, I really don't consider myself a person who has much to write about that others would be interested in. If you are one of the 3 people that I expect will, then I welcome you.

Office of one refers to the fact that I have worked alone in a home office for just short of 10 years now. The first 8 were OK but the last 2... not so much. I have realized that other than my family and people at church I have withdrawn and pulled myself out of the social world. I figure I must not be the only one that is in this predicament. So I am reaching out to others who may find that their best friend is a small window that can be measured in pixels. Lunch is what you do in tiny bites all-day-long and you are the only person in the world that knows how many branches are on the the tree outside your window.

Over the next few days or months, I will try to share some of the things that I have learned that make home office life better, some of the things I know I should do different but haven't, and any other things I feel like sharing with the world.

So... since this is the first post I will share my first observation about working at home.

The two best months of the year are June and August. June because you have had a very quiet empty house all year and you look forward to school being out so there will be family around again. August because you have had a summer trying to work in a noisy house with family always there and you can't wait for them to go back to school. Today was the last day of school.

EvanFred

Sunday, May 29, 2011

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".
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