I have worked from home on and off my whole working career, so it’s something that is familiar to me and which I have always liked. I’ve always viewed it as a privilege, not a right. Go into a new company, prove your worth and delivery track record, then where you are physically working doesn’t really matter. Whether you have a work ethic or not is location agnostic.
Now we move into times where many people will be working from home 5 days a week. This is a whole other ball game. I have never worked from home more than a couple of days per week as I still like the human interaction that comes with face to face contact. But instead of looking on this negatively, I think we have a chance here for a rare gift – time!
I have a fairly long commute to the office, but with this gone I now have more time in my day for things that make me feel positive. For me, this is being outside. Either walking the dog or running, I’m even thinking of buying an old bike, so I have a third outdoor option.
I love nothing more getting out and about before work as it ensures I feel energised and de stressed for the day ahead. For some, it might be reading a book, gaming, listening to podcasts etc – the list is limitless. But if you had any form of commute before, you now have this time you didn’t have to do these things before the working day even starts! Sure, you could have a longer lie and stay in your pyjamas all day but I think the nations mental health will take a serious nosedive if that’s the approach we take.
As well as time for ourselves, we also have more time to focus on our business. All companies, large or small, have those 'nice to haves' that have been sitting in the backlog. These can start to be looked at with some real and intelligent thinking time applied with no interruptions.
Progress can be made to ensure we come out on top since after all, this too shall pass.
