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Antiwork

My thoughts on working from home, from my experience with it

I will say that for many people, working from home is a positive life change and I am not disputing that. My current situation: I live a 3 minute drive or about an 8 minute walk from work (the drive is more roundabout than the walk which is more direct), depending on how i’m feeling for the day and how I’d like to go to work. I just want to point out that, while I understand the urge to transition to a work from home scenario, it requires a shift in skillset and there are adjustments and new things to look out for. If you are working from home you save yourself the obligatory morning chores and the egregiously infuriating morning commute. On the flip side you now have a responsibility to maintain a work/life balance in a different way since you literally work in the same place you live.…


I will say that for many people, working from home is a positive life change and I am not disputing that.

My current situation: I live a 3 minute drive or about an 8 minute walk from work (the drive is more roundabout than the walk which is more direct), depending on how i’m feeling for the day and how I’d like to go to work.

I just want to point out that, while I understand the urge to transition to a work from home scenario, it requires a shift in skillset and there are adjustments and new things to look out for. If you are working from home you save yourself the obligatory morning chores and the egregiously infuriating morning commute. On the flip side you now have a responsibility to maintain a work/life balance in a different way since you literally work in the same place you live.

I sought out a job I live near, but I don’t live in after my remote job. I moved to a rural location. I found that my personality didn’t work well with the project-like timelines working from home gave me. To be frank, procrastination and working from home, for me, collided and ultimately increased my stress.

I’ve learned that I’m the kind of person that does best when I’m not at work, I am not at work. Period. My work brain turns on when I clock in and off when I clock out, and that is easier to enforce when I don’t live in my own place of employment. This is not true for everyone, but just pay attention to your tendencies and personality.

I’m not suggesting one is better than the other universally, I’m just saying to pay close attention to yourself and your employer. Workloads can be more gradually increased and it can get harder to tell when that’s happening when you don’t have an enforced structure in place and your personality and habits need that. Employers are aware that you live where you work, so pay close attention to deadlines and expectations when you work from home. You are still answering to an employer when you work from home for the vast majority of work from home positions. Remote work can translate to more work if you don’t pay enough attention.

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