The Doldrums of Winter
Winter. Perfect days to withdraw from the cold outside. Cold and gray, a time to retreat into the comfort of one one’s couch and close the shades. A time of the year to concoct reason upon reason to preclude oneself from braving the elements.
Now, take a job where you work from home a significant portion of the time, throw in a fairly significant workload, and you’ve got a perfect recipe for some cabin fever.
I’ve been doing this new job for about eight months now, and I knew working from home was going to be a challenge. I was correct. It’s tough, particularly for somebody such as myself that doesn’t easily pick up the phone and say “Hey man, let’s go shoot some pool”. (As a sidenote, even though my pool table is currently in storage there’s a swank poolhall right down the street from me…so if you ever feel the need, just give me a ring. 
) Not only that, when your office is just a few steps away, it takes a lot of self-control to disconnect mentally and physically.
As such, I think the closed shades of winter hit me particularly hard this year, despite a couple weeks in Florida.
This is a reminder to myself to go outside; to call people if only to say hello; to step away from work even if I don’t have something else more important to do. This type of thing was easy when I would work with people every day, but it now requires an extra effort. That, and the MacGyver DVD set (thanks, bro!) will only last for so long.
8 Comments so far
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I hear ya. Working from home was (and is) tough for me. I find myself mixing work-home things and then just work on into the night because I didn’t track my time well.
One thing that worked well for me is to schedule going out time just as you would schedule work meetings and coference calls. On Monday (today) call around and make plans for the rest of the week. Make plans with at least two people, preferably in the evenings to get you out of the house.
I got into the mode of working during the day, calling people in the afternoon, then working in the evening. This is a bad schedule. Try planning things on Monday and that should help cary you through the week.
By Mike D.on 02.13.06 10:49 am
Just make 5pm “Guinness Time”. You could even schedule Guinness Time reminders in your calendar.
By Jasonon 02.13.06 5:02 pm
Ooh, I like THAT idea!
By Damonon 02.13.06 5:27 pm
Yeah man, you never call me anymore. I feel unloved.
By Bad Andyon 02.15.06 3:46 pm
I’m sure you’ll figure out some great ways to combat cabin fever… might be easier to do in the Spring, I guess. Still up for paintball again sometime?
By keithon 02.19.06 10:50 pm
Heck yea, I’d be up for paintball again!
By Damonon 02.21.06 9:56 am
I hear ya…back when I (and a lot of us) used to work at Little Arthur Anderson, I worked from home as well. Even though I was on the road a fair amount, it did take some discipline. I was lucky, my home office was in my basement, which made it easier to leave work there…but even though I am office bound now, it doesn’t make the winter blues any better…in fact, almost makes it worse as I have to navigate slush, ice, snow, cold…
By Zimtedon 02.22.06 9:51 am
Come on working in your underwear is fun
By emhart1on 02.23.06 5:59 pm
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