What You Learn About Yourself Working From Home - Page 15

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When we were first all ordered to stay at home, for many that meant working from home – at least for the very lucky who were able to continue their work in a remote setting. At first, there was just the panic of what it all meant for the future of the company – of entire industries. We all wondered if this working from home thing was just a transition to…not working at all. And that was a troublesome time. Some of us may still have those concerns. But once the initial fear settled down, you probably started to focus on how you could be productive at home. You may have kids at home, or roommates. You may not have a place you can make a dedicated workspace. But then, maybe, you got into your groove. And when you got into that groove, you started to learn a lot about yourself. The physical, commercial workspace – the office where we clock in and clock out – exists for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that, if put us in our homes, doing the same tasks, we may just not be as productive. Some people need that real office. Some people just want it. Then again, some thrive best while working from home. This may have been your first chance at finding out where you fall in those categories, as well as some other things. Here’s what you’ll learn about yourself working from home.

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Your level of self-discipline

You’ll discover just how self-disciplined you are when you have to be your own supervisor. If you say to yourself that you will do something at 2pm, but then, something distracts you, or something more appealing comes up, do you still get that work done at 2pm? Are you able to be your own boss, and tell others, “I can’t right now. I told myself I’d do this work at 2pm.”

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You get energy from seeing coworkers

You may learn that being able to look at your coworkers and be in the presence of others who are working energizes you. It’s a group mentality thing. The power of the collective. You like to actually see the bigger thing of which you’re just a small part – that keeps you going. And now you struggle when you don’t have that.

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You eat too much when nobody is judging

Uh oh. You may find that, when there aren’t coworkers sitting at desks near the snack room who can clock each time you go back for another handful of chocolate-covered pretzels, that you get a lot of chocolate-covered pretzels. Only societal pressure was keeping you from over-eating during the day. And now that’s gone.

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You work best when not micro-managed

Perhaps you realize that your supervisor was standing in your way of you doing your best job. You’d have a vision. You’d begin to execute. But then you’d start getting these micro-managing instructions that would bog you down, slow you down, and take the wind out of your sails. Maybe now, you produce some pretty excellent work when left to your own devices.

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You really benefit from a mid-day nap

At work, you used to hit that slump in the afternoon when you wanted nothing more than a little nap. But you were at work so you had to power through it and drink more caffeine. Now, you can give in. You take your power nap. And after, you feel amazing, and you clearly do much better work than you did when you relied on caffeine to get you through.

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You don’t like your partner much, after all…

This can be a hard one to face if it comes up, but a lot of people are realizing that they didn’t like their partners that much…they just didn’t have the time to see it before. They were both so busy and only saw each other for fun stuff like date nights – when it’s easy enough to enjoy each other when you’re drinking and relaxing. Given more time together working from home, you may find your partner isn’t so pleasant.

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You’re an introvert

You may actually discover that you’re an introvert. You could find yourself feeling much more energized when you aren’t subjected to a day of forced social interactions. If you are an introvert and didn’t know it, then going into an office with lots of other coworkers may have left you feeling particularly drained before.

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Or, you’re an extrovert

You may, on the other hand, discover that you’re a true extrovert and that a lot of the feelings of joy and satisfaction you got from work was actually from the workplace and your coworkers. The work itself may not totally fulfill you, and you could find yourself feeling depleted of energy when you don’t have others around you.

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You needed more sleep

You no longer have to commute to work – which for some, is a huge deal. And you don’t need to put in quite as much of an effort on your appearance, just to work from home. So you may be stealing an extra hour or more of sleep each morning, and that one little hour could actually make you a whole new person. You could feel far more productive, motivated, energetic, and creative each day with a bit more sleep.

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Your natural biological schedule

You know what I’m talking about. Toilet time. You had to revolve that around the work schedule before. If nature called when a 45-minute mandatory office-wide meeting came up, you had to tell nature to wait. Now you have the freedom to listen to your body bit more, get on a more regular schedule when it comes to being, well, regular, and it feels great!

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You love insert unexpected music here

At the office, you just had to listen to whatever the office manager put on. Or the CEO. Or the head of your team. You weren’t in charge of the music. You had to listen to smooth jazz or 50s classics all day. Now you finally get to discover what type of music actually helps you stay focused and productive, and you may be surprised by what you find.

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Your ability to procrastinate

Do you, or don’t you? At the office, procrastination wasn’t really an option. You could find a few small things to do to procrastinate, but ultimately, you had someone watching you, and there was that expectation that you’d be walking out the office door by a certain time. Now, nobody knows exactly what time you finish work, so you can procrastinate a ton…if you have it in you.

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Your work doesn’t take that long

You may learn that you don’t even really need an eight-hour workday. You can get your work done in six to six and a half hours. It’s just all the distractions at work that slow you down. The long lunches with coworkers. The memos flying around about remembering to refill the Brita filter or ink cartridge if you find them empty. The coworkers interrupting you to make funny comments.

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Your true relationship with bras and showers

You may find that you really only wore bras and took showers for other people. Now, you may not put on a bra for…weeks? Months? And once you stop wearing a bra, it feels harder to put one on. Rather than put a bra on when you realize you’re totally nipping out and need to walk the dog, you just put another shirt on top of your shirt.