Work From Home. A Fantasy Busted!!!

Work From Home. A Fantasy Busted!!!

Writing this I feel funny, because there was a time when I thought if I start working from home, I would enjoy the work life balance, but it seem like the life I was living was not a perfect fit of work from home environment. Lets be honest, work from home has always been romanticized for individuals who believe they are very creative or for the ones who think it will solve all the problems of managing home and office at the same time. But let me tell you even though I do not admit that my wife is the home maker, which she is and I partner with her lets say 40% (and she still wouldn't agree to it), she also is no more a fan of working from home.

However we wouldn't say that work from home is not the right fit for us, we actually are not the right fit for telecommuting. Lets discuss a few reasons why we were not the perfect fit for telecommuting.

I have a great relationship with my bed.

On a regular day, waking up is the most difficult part of starting off, in my late 30’s I still like to snooze off my sleep for 10 minutes, its like part of my morning ritual, despite my rooms clock is 15 minutes ahead, I still keep on snoozing until I loose the maximum amount of time.

Now that I am working from home, though I would love to wake up, get ready, have my breakfast and then sit in my supposedly home office, but…… all in vain. I mark my attendance through my virtual assistant and go to sleep, I wake up only when someone really disturbs me with something they need to get done. Doesn’t sound very productive, it isn’t and one of the reasons I hated working from home. Well for my better half, her day used to start at noon, so guess what no morning meet ups. And when I say all this, we were a couple that were known to wake up early mornings and start off our day even on weekends. We used to consider ourselves millennial, atleast I did but with the most characteristics of Gen-z and with that I would never trust a Gen –z with telecommuting.

I miss the team meeting.

And this would be something my team would be enjoying the most, no early morning targets or work distribution or accounting them for something that was not done yesterday, though its still done everyday, however not in the meeting room where everyone whispers, “I think he woke up on the wrong side of the bed …. Again..!!!”. Work from home kills the communication, the efficient way of completing the task, I somehow completed the task myself rather than picking up the phone or writing an email to delegate the task and then wait for them to come back. I guess, it was a relief for me when my team is operating right under my nose.

Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?

HBO, Comedy Central, Netflix, Internet without restrictions, the car keys, the ever lasting snacking, your home is full of temptations that you just couldn’t resist. For once in my life, I have actually gained weight working from home, yes desi ghee parathas and afternoon lunches was also included in these temptations. I tried isolating myself from them, but I could actually hear my TV calling, MONEY HEIST, MONEEEYYY HEIST and you know what happened next…… and how can I forget, my relationship with my bed, the romance was the most tempting one, the thought of napping for a while after a good lunch was definitely the most tempting one, but then I knew once I hug my sweet bed to sleep I am not getting up for another 3 hours so it was a big no.

The Ruined Budget

Oh I miss the chilled office, with all the temptations the added cost comes with it. The electricity bill spiked. With 1 meal in the house before, our weight as well as our grocery budget went up for the month as well. We tend to manage our hobbies along side too. Like my better half was fond of gardening and she kept it going, yes despite the lockdown. We were cooking a lot, experimenting everyday.

Before this work from home frenzy started, I am sure you all would have said, “What? Are you crazy! I would stay home as often as I could.” But here is the thing, I actually love going to office considering I get to be more active, more productive and I am able to see more people around me. Do you have the same thoughts as mine... please share...