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| [home office*] |
According to the old Jewish joke, work is something you would get the
maid to do for you if you could. Clearly working at home remains, to one degree
or another, an obligation. That said, the task does not necessarily have to be utterly
unpleasant. In fact, it is quite possible to render working from home a
relatively pleasant experience without investing significant money by properly
arranging the work space, taking breaks of all kinds and having a “real” life
outside of work.
As home workers, especially freelancers, spend so many hours in their
work space, it is vital to have a comfortable chair, install appropriate
lighting and visually divide the work space from the rest of the house. A comfortable
chair is a vital element in terms of physical comfort, affecting all elements
of work over time, including fatigue and tension. Simply put, an ergonomic chair adds efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, while sometimes rather
pricey, purchasing an appropriate chair is a worthwhile, even necessary,
business investment. Lighting has a more subtle long-term effect. Over a long
day, appropriately strong and properly located fixtures can significantly
reduce fatigue by limiting eye strain. Psychologically, the most important
physical aspect of an office is that it is visually separate from the rest of
the house. While for most translators “out of sight, out of mind” may not
completely occur, a separate office, i.e., not in the kitchen, living room or
bedroom, not only greatly increases concentration, it allows home workers to
visually walk away from their work when they need a break or finish their day.
It thus creates a clear distinction between work and other life, just as office
workers experience. At the end of the day, one closes the office until the
morning, without being reminded of tasks to be done by a pile of papers on the
desk. In these ways, a home office remains an office for all purposes.
One of the great advantages of being a freelancer is the flexibility to
pace work throughout the day based on personal and objective factors. First,
everybody has a different concentration flow. These elements include warm up
time, i.e., how long does it take after waking up in the morning before the
person actually starts working; focus slope, how intensely and long can a
person concentrate before becoming fatigued; and alertness times, i.e., morning
as compared to evening people. In other words, people have unique patterns of
ideal concentration. Between these peak times, it is necessary both physically
and psychologically to take a break. Since there is no boss monitoring
“productivity”, home workers can take breaks as often and as long as they want
as well as choose their relief. These refreshment times range from 5 minutes to
prepare coffee or tea (I highly recommend stocking up on quality coffee and tea
but not abusing it) to 10-minute walks in the garden, 15-minute household tasks, such as hanging the laundry and doing the dishes, 30-minute exercise
sessions and even 1-hour naps. As long as the required work is completed by the
end of the day, it makes no fundamental difference what the actually time
distribution is . These breaks not only allow homeworkers to accomplish more
but also better work.
The key to powerful home work is antimatter, as they would say in Star
Trek, specifically scheduling a few fixed,
uncancellable times every week for pleasant activities. These activities can
include lunch with friends, doing sport, volunteer activity or any other
activity that feeds the body and soul. The key is to be with people we like. While
this “lost time” may add some stress by reducing available work hours, it more than
compensates by creating positive energy, which allows us not only to be
productive but to enjoy our work. “All work, no play” is not sustainable in the
long term.
Clearly, work is work and required for economic survival. Working at
home may be a matter of choice or necessity. Nonetheless, it is both practical
and worthwhile to create the ideal office, take breaks and avoid feeling like a
slave to work. It is possible to minimize the “work” element of home work.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.
Picture credit: pixabay
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