By Jacqueline Dooley
As a self-employed person I am breaking lots of rules by working outside of the normal 9-5 office environment. I can think of a few key things right off the bat that feel deliciously rebellious right now. These include working in jeans, working from home, making personal phone calls and getting started later than 9 a.m.
The flip side of this is I’m completely on my own and require a large amount of self-discipline and direction, which is often challenging. There can also be complications outside the office that creep up unexpectedly and it’s up to me to figure out how to overcome them. For example, yesterday I was feverishly working on two deadlines when I lost my Internet connection at about 1:30 pm.
I had only started working at noon because I’d taken my kids to the dentist, then had to drop them both off at school, which required some sophisticated navigation due to all the flooding-related detours.
Luckily my sister-in-law lives in New Paltz and her house is always empty during the day. They rarely lose power or Internet. So I drove the 10 minutes to get there and was able to complete my work (for the most part). In truth, I surprised myself by my own productivity. Even though I wasn’t working from a “traditional” office, I was able to concentrate without the temptation of multiple distractions.
Office has distractions
I called my sister-in-law to thank her for letting me work at her house and she agreed she gets a lot more accomplished when she works from home. There are lots of distractions at her office so it’s difficult to focus. She’s even going to set up an office in her basement so she can work from home occasionally. I wonder if she will find once the newness of working from home wears off, it can still be difficult to avoid distractions.
To that end, I wonder if taking yourself out of whatever work environment you’re used to can actually help with productivity. I used to think working from home 100 percent of the time was the best way for me to get my work done, but now that I’m living that dream, I’m beginning to yearn for a place to go outside of my house - at least once in a while.
I’ve lived the other extreme for many years and I know working 100 percent outside my home is also not what I want. If I do that, I’ll begin to resent the commute, the time away from my kids and the drudgery of being in the same cubicle day after day.
It all comes down to the fact that rules are made to be broken. Since (for me) a key rule of self-employment is I get to work from home, it stands to reason breaking that rule and going to work somewhere (anywhere) else can actually help me stay focused and break me out of a rut. This was certainly the case yesterday when I found myself working at someone else’s quiet house, on a nice country road where my own home-based distractions and chores couldn’t steal my focus away from work.
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This article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, April 21st, 2007.
By Jacqueline Dooley
I often wish I could take time off more spontaneously in response to events that make it difficult to put in a full week’s worth of work. For example, both my girls were home this week because of spring break. My older daughter is in kindergarten and this is a pretty big schedule shift for her.
My youngest daughter goes to a childcare program at BOCES, which is also closed for spring break. She only goes a few days a week, so staying home all week is really no big deal for her. She’s used to being home with her father while I work upstairs.
The big challenge is having both girls home together all week. The little one is used to having some time to herself and the older one actually misses school. This is the first time she’s been really, truly bored.
They are both getting in each other’s hair while I work upstairs listening to it all and wishing I could do something with them. But there are some weeks I just can’t break away. I’m going to be away all next week at a conference, plus the first week of the month is my busiest time.
I used to think it would be easy to take time off since I work for myself, but it’s often the opposite that’s true.
My husband and I have had many conversations about what we should do when our kids get older in terms of extracurricular activities. We agreed to keep each girl in one extracurricular activity of their choosing and keep their schedules fairly open during vacations and weekends.
When I came to the above conclusion, my older daughter was about three. At that point in time, she was quite content with playing with stuffed animals and contemplating her navel.
Now she doesn’t miss an opportunity to tell me she’s bored and ask me to do something with her. I love that she wants to spend time with me, but I hate the guilt. I’m also realizing that what may be right for one stage of a child’s life isn’t necessarily going to be what’s right for another.
That’s how I found myself scheduling her week, much the way I schedule my own week. A play date on Tuesday, gymnastics camp on Wednesday and Thursday (with her little sister along for the latter), a sleepover at grandma’s from Thursday to Friday and I’m home free (or rather, work free) by Saturday.
Not like the past
When did this happen? Is this a working mom thing or a typical parenting thing? I remember playing outside during school breaks, or coloring or reading. Well, OK, she can’t read yet so I’ll give her that.
This short break is making me realize that I’ll need to plan better for things like summer vacations and holidays. I don’t want to keep missing them. In retrospect, I wish I would’ve scheduled a few days off this week even though I’ll be away next week so I could spend time coloring, playing outside and reading with both my girls.
To this end, I have hired three subcontractors over the past couple of weeks to help me get my work done. I think this is a good way to build a safety net so my business can stand to be without me for a few days (and vice versa). Hopefully, this will ensure that I can enjoy more than a few lazy days of summer with my girls, instead of working through all the fun stuff.
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This article was published in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Saturday, April 7, 2007.
