Working from home

Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008

Leo of Zen Habits (one of my favorite blogs) recently posted asking readers for tips on working from home. I left the following comments on his blog:

Bad TV. Yep, that’s the secret. If you watch good TV, you will turn around from your desk and watch. Same with good music… you will pay attention to the music. Bad TV and bad music make you work harder. Bad TV is any variation of judge shows or jerry springer in the background. (I like noise)

I also kiss my wife goodbye in the morning on my way to the office… she works from home as well in the other room, but getting in to a work attitude helps a lot.

I'm dead serious. The best thing for me to do is watch bad TV or movies I've seen a hundred times (the mix is usually A Few Good Men, Friday, My Cousin Vinny, Tin Cup ... ). Not awesome movies, but that's the point. If you listen to new music or watch new tv shows,  it only takes away your attention.

Some people say "work in silence" - no way. I can't do that, it drives me crazy.

Do you have any little things that help you work during the day?

Jayme

Comments

• Michael Eaton on 1.17.2008 at 10:15 PM

• I don't agree with the bad music part. ;-) I gotta listen to good music to get into the zone. It's amazing how often I find myself totally in the zone with metal cranked as loud as I can get it.

  I almost never have the TV on, although my son does watch Nick Jr. in the morning, but I block that out.

  About once a week, I make sure I get out of the house and have lunch with friends.

• Jayme on 1.17.2008 at 10:23 PM

• Metal always works! Good music can be in the eye of the beholder, I'm a big fan of singer/songwriter so excellent lyrics and acoustic guitar is GREAT music for me - not good to work to though! Getting out of the house is something I need to do more :)

  Jayme

• Michael Eaton on 1.17.2008 at 10:43 PM

• I do know people that can't work with any noise. it's strange that I can crank out code with the music blasting, but if I pick up a book, I need absolutle silence. My wife can listen to music AND transcribe from tape (from a doctor with a very thick accent) with no problems.

  I will admit that sometimes it's metal (most of the time actually), but there are times where I need something mellow like Sinatra or Paul Simon.

• Stacy on 1.18.2008 at 1:28 PM

• Sometimes, I *have* to put music on so that I hear more than the laptop fan and confirm that indeed I am not the last person on earth. But it really depends on what I'm doing. I can't concentrate on specs when good music is on, but I can write up my TPS reports.

  I have my own space too--it's a separate room in the house so that I'm not distracted by the TV or Wii or household chores or the cat's cuteness.

  I also invoke the Mr. Rogers sweater methodology. Once I enter my office and put on the 'office sweater' I am transformed into the magical online world of work at Telligent. It's almost like being there...except there's no one to talk to, it's flippin' cold, and nobody delivers free breakfast.

• Jason on 1.18.2008 at 2:56 PM

• For me, I have to have something playing too. But generally, I'll have the audio portion of Top Gear playing in the background, as music tends to distract me too much. Strange, huh?

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