I’m on the verge of losing access to my home office. So says my wife, Amy.She walked into my office the other day to find me sitting at my desk, as usual, and made this promise: “The next time you’re off on a business trip, I’m putting a lock on this door and I’m keeping the only key. You’ll only be allowed in here when I let you in.”
She was serious.
The problem, as she sees it: This happened at 8 p.m., a time of night when most people are home with their families — but a time when I am routinely at my desk. That frustrates Amy, who has been dogging me for months to better separate work and family. I’ve tried, but not very successfully. Amy has reached the point where she’s ready to impose her own solution: the door lock.
So, after nearly two years working from home, I’m finally confronting what might be the biggest challenge home-office workers face: learning to separate the office from the home.
Photo by Paladin27.
Dave Starr on July 24th, 2006 at 12:38 am
I face the same problem … my wife uses the office also, so she can’t very well lock us both out … but time management, especially with blogging, is a big challenge. I’m seriously considering a move to a rented office just to clean up our home _and_ to put us both on a regular schedule … come home at supper time and no blogging, newsletter reading etc. until start of work the next day.
This was brought home to me yesterday (Sunday) when I received a call from a TV reporter seeking background on a breaking news story … this lady just Googled on the subject, saw my blog and called my 800 number, knowing a geek would be at home answering his phone on a Sunday … sad part was, she guessed right … what a nerd am I ;-)
Jason Clegg on July 24th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
Creating that boundary is so critical to the success of new entrepreneurs. Locking the door and hiding the key might not be a bad idea. Then again, locking yourself in wouldn’t hurt sometimes either.
Late Pass on July 26th, 2006 at 6:13 am
Yeah, working from home is the pits.