I’ve been off work this week – decorating. Decorating is a practical job requiring the use of my hands and doing very little with a computer.
I was therefore please to receive this advice for my return to work:
I’ll let you know how I get on.
Month: August 2009
My New Fear of Working from Home
I have a new fear – I have become afraid of working from home. I’m not talking about a panic type fear this is more of a niggling nag that means I am more likely to choose to go into the office even when I have no need to be there.
As I have done today.
As with most fear this new fear of working from home is primarily irrational.
Throughout 2008 and for much of the early part of 2009 I worked from home. This was effective, productive and in many ways less stressful. The facilities are better at home and I get to interact with the family more often. The coffee is certainly better.
So where has this fear come from? There are, as you’d expect, a number of elements.
One of my fears is a distrust of my own self-control. While the working environment at home is much better than it is in the office it is also much more distracting. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never spent days distracted on things that aren’t work, I’m just worried that I will. Everyone who owns a home knows that there are always jobs to be done. It’s an irrational fear because there are just as many distractions in the office, they just look a bit more like work.
The self control fear also works the other way though, I worry about my ability to constrain work. I can be a bit obsessive about things and it’s easier to be sucked into work when you are working from home. It’s more difficult to shut the door and to declare it finished.
Another fear is the fear of missing out. What if I am missing out on something important or exciting? If I am at home am I always going to be second choice. At the crux it’s a lack of confidence in my own abilities and the value that I bring. If I was confident in my own ability I wouldn’t worry about being left on the sidelines. The irrationality of this fear is that the people who I interact with are rarely in the same office as me even when I am in the office myself.
Loneliness is another worry. There have certainly days when I have worked from home where I have taken a walk to the shops mainly to speak face-to-face with someone.
The last fear is a bit more of a personal one and probably the most irrational. In my mind I think that I get more headaches when I work from home, and I also think that these headaches turn into migraines more often at home than in the office. It seems like I’m stating the obvious, but I don’t like migraines and the fear of them can linger at the back of my head. Going into the office lessens that fear.
Am I the only one? Is this something that other home workers feel?
Do I need to just “get back on the bike” and push away my irrational fears?
Count Your Blessings #140 – Buying Experiences
The feature in The Guardian magazine this weekend was titled “How To Be Happy Right Now” in one of the articles – “How to feel up in a downturn” – they had this advice for people looking for happiness:
“The advice is straightforward. Remember to be grateful. Spend your money on experiences, not objects. Volunteer. Nurture your relationships. Spend time in nature. Make sure you encounter new people and places. And never assume that you know what will make you happy.”
It’s an interesting list and I was intrigued by the parallels in my own experience and practice.
We’ve recently got back from a glorious 
holiday in Italy where we decided to create some new experiences and to see some new places.
On one particular day we decided to go to Pisa. We didn’t give ourselves a huge amount of time, and set off late in the afternoon after a lazy day by the pool. A few people had said to us that their wasn’t much to see in Pisa. We had nothing to go on so we didn’t plan a day around the place, but wanted to go and see the tower anyway.
With these low expectations we drove into Pisa without a plan following the signs for the Duomo. Seeing the tower and dome get steadily closer we drove past the entrance to the Square of Miracles and pulled into a street opposite paying a couple of Euros to park up for the rest of the evening. We walked down the street and across the road through the archway.
We’d already been surprised earlier in the day by the knowledge that the tower of Pisa didn’t stand on its own and was actually stood in a piazza incorporating the Duomo, Baptistery, Campo Santo and the tower itself.
We also knew that there had been all sorts of engineering work undertaken to secure the tower and rectify some of its lean. We were, therefore, surprised as we walked through the archway to see people stood at the top.
With time going on and the knowledge that the building would only be open for a couple of hours I headed off to the ticket office. The gentleman behind the counter was very helpful and advised me to buy a ticket for the Duomo and the Campo Santo ensuring me that they were the most interesting. There was a sign explaining that a trip to the top of the tower would cost 15 Euros and that they allowed 30 people every 30 minutes. There were loads of people outside and I expected the answer to my next question to be that they were sold out, but I asked it anyway.
“Do you have any room left in the tower today” I said
I was very pleasantly surprised by his answer:
“We have room for four people on the last trip of the day.”
To be honest 15 Euros seemed like a lot of money for the privilege to walk to the top of a tower, 60 Euros for the four of us. But this was an experience that we weren’t likely to repeat, and perhaps not even have the opportunity to do again.
It was a great experience.
Walking up the tower is a strange thing to do because the angle of the building makes it a bit disorientating. 
Being the last of the day does, however, mean that we were at the top as the sun was setting. Watching the shadows grow on the mountains and across Pisa was wonderful. The silhouette of the Duomo with the sun setting behind it was an experience in itself.
We will talk about those experiences for years to come. They make me feel happy every time that I think about them.
That’s amazing – Creating a photograph book
The other day I was listening to a radio programme about book binding (no, I’m not sure why I was listening, if that’s what you are thinking). This programme talked about the elaborate process that the ancient book-binders used to go through to create what would become a work of art. One particular book that was mentioned took 2 years to bind – not to create, to bind.
On returning from holidays we wanted an physical album of photographs to show people; it’s still a much better way of interacting with the images in many situations.
What did I do?
- Downloaded the photographs from my camera.
- Sorted through them for the ones I wanted to put in the album.
- Downloaded some code from a web site where I was going to get the photos printed.
- Started the code and imported the photos.
- Looked a the book that it created automatically and made a few changes.
- Sent the book for printing.
- 3 days later (because of the weekend) my photo album had arrived.
The album looks wonderfully professional and cost me less than the price of a new shirt and only about twice the price of a paperback at the local book store.
I’m not suggesting that my photograph album compares with ancient book binding – but the change in the process of creating a book is incredible. What’s more I undertook this transaction using commodity technology and a service from a budget supermarket. It’s not specialised, it’s not “out there”, it’s normal life.
Sometimes it’s good to remember how far we have come.
Returning from Holiday
Today is my first day back after a 2 week break with the family.
We spent most of it in Tuscany, Italy at the wonderfully idyllic Podere San Martino (there web site needs a bit of work).
It was great to be away with the family and to enjoy the sights of Tuscany.
We spent some days by the pool, and others visiting places, and still others doing a bit of both.
I’m writing this during my lunch and my body is telling me that it’s time to go for the sleep that I have so easily become used to.
http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?set_id=72157621965917068
Created with flickr slideshow.
Returning from Holiday
Today is my first day back after a 2 week break with the family.
We spent most of it in Tuscany, Italy at the wonderfully idyllic Podere San Martino (there web site needs a bit of work).
http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?set_id=72157621965917068
Created with flickr slideshow.