We're ALL Working From Home

If you work and have a job that can be done from your home....that's probably where you are. During this unprecedented event, many people have been forced to work from home who normally do not work from home. This sounds like a very cool thing....working from home. And it is. I have been  full time telecommuting for the past 2.5 years and only been into the office for about 4 meetings during that entire time. In fact, the entire team I work with works from home. We only have to go into the office for meetings or if we *want* to go in. A few people do go to the office once a week. I remember in the weeks before this started I was thinking this full time telecommuting could have some major drawbacks. I was already telecommuting twice a week and I relied on the days I was in the office to work on the tough technical issues with colleagues because that is 100% better. Well, now we would not have in person contact and I had concerns about this. But we have Skype, telephones and email. It turns out that things have rolled along fine. I'd say 99.9% of my concerns were not an issue. The ones that were, we all dealt with those quickly and it's been a good 2.5 years.

However, the people that are being forced to work from home now have not had time to prepare or make arrangements. This ranges from a work station, how to manage your work in a vastly different location, VPN service and just how to get motivated. I personally do not have a problem with being motivated but a lot of people associate home with downtime and find themselves doing "home" things and not actually working. This is just something people have to work on if they have a problem staying focused. My suggestion is to set an alarm. You have to stay at your work station and work (no phone calls, laundry, cutting the grass) for however long you set the alarm for. When it goes off, get up and take a *short* break and then set another alarm and get back to it. You will find you get into a rhythm and eventually will stop setting the alarm. I would also try not to work in places you associate with doing specific things like watching TV or sleeping....meaning, don't work from your Lazy Boy or in bed. Setup a work station in a location were you can be productive. Also, stick to your normal work hours. If you work 9am - 5pm, then work those hours and don't work 2 hours here and there until you have 8 hours. Doing that is going to be a disaster....trust me. You also have to consider your colleagues. If you are not working, you might be holding someone else up or they may not be able to reach you. And if things are rough at first, just know that things *will* get better. It will just take time. You are not in it alone....even though you are working alone. If that is proving to be a problem and you are feeling lonesome, ask a colleague to Skye with you and work on something you have a question about. The interaction will be good for both of you.

Are you working from home? Leave me a comment and let me know if it's due to the coronavirus or if you have been doing this for awhile. Also leave any tips for people who might be new to it!

I'll leave on a humorous note. The list below are the names of home wireless networks.

1. Drop It Like It’s Hotspot
2. Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Wifi
3. Wi-Fight the Inevitable
4. It Burns When IP
5. Abraham Linksys
6. Silence of the LAN
7. Bandwidth Together
8. Nacho Wifi
9. No More Mister Wifi
10. No LAN for the Wicked
11. I Believe Wi Can Fi
12. Where the Wild Pings Are
13. New England Clam Router
14. Go Go Router Rangers
    
15. IP Steady Streams
    
16. The Promised LAN
    
17. PorqueFi
    
18. The LAN Before Time