Why Do I Hate Working From Home?

Sometimes, staying out of the office is unavoidable. We all get sick, we all take holidays, but for independent contractors and freelancers, we still have to get sh*t done! However, even the most motivated, productive people have lazy moments and working from home can definitely cut down your energy level.

1. My bed is a trap. Let me start this blog off by saying how much I love laying in bed. My bed is against two walls in a corner with a plug on the far side next to the head of the bed, so it's perfect for making a nest with the wall as support and with my laptop and phone plugged in without any difficulty. My bed frame creates a gap between the mattress and the wall, so I can stick a bottle of water in the gap and don't have to reach for my nightstand. My sheets are jersey knit and super snuggly, and I have about six pillows to configure. It's a pretty sweet set up, but it is NOT conducive to getting any work done.

2. I'm a bored snacker. If I decide to work at the kitchen table, it's a recipe for disaster (pun intended). Not only do I end up cooking instead of working, I also end up eating about 3,500 calories. Our kitchen table is directly next to our fridge and there are almost always Buckhorn Grill or Los Reyes leftovers in there.

3. My house is Distraction City. We've got tv's everywhere, a giant speaker to jam to, Netflix, foosball, the works. If you have the choice between reading a compliance report and watching Season 3 of Friends, what are you going to choose? Exactly. I will say that background noise can be very helpful in the office, so usually I have some quiet Vance Joy or Hozier lulling me through content creation anyway. BUT! That is completely different than blasting A$AP Ferg and fiddling with the bass level pretending to be DJ Twinkle Toes.

4. Naps become an option. Don't get me wrong, I love naps. If I could marry naps, I would marry naps. Naps are the best. Unfortunately, they are interruptions in work flow and often are way longer than originally intended. With my trap of a bed and a very, very comfortable couch just steps away, this is a frequent issue - especially when working from home due to illness. Achieving maximum coze* when the priority is getting work done is not helpful.

5. It's easy to get caught up in housework. "Oh, I'll just throw in a load of laundry while I work." No

you won't, Carol. One load of laundry will lead to doing the dishes will lead to dusting the armoire will lead to vacuuming the whole house. Then it's five thirty and you have to make dinner and before you know it, it's nine in the nighttime and you have forty emails to deal with.

6. There's not a lot of accountability. Sure, there are deadlines. Sure, there are phone calls. Sure, there are content calendars. But there is no one to see you binge eating hot pockets in your underwear on your couch watching Ina Garten harvest her own basil. The "home alone" environment will not allow you to be productive in the right way.

*Coze: level of coziness.

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