The Importance of Getting Out the House When You Work From Home

 

 

 

There are a lot of perks to working from home. Not only do you get to set your own hours, make time for a cheeky bit of Holly and Phil in the morning and wear baggy t-shirts, you also have nobody keeping an eye on you or dictating your work schedule. It can, however be quite isolating and at times I realise that I haven’t actually left the house in several days, aside from the odd trip to Tesco or the gym.

I find that after a while I get cabin fever and my productivity levels really slow down; I allow myself a nap with the promise of furiously ticking off my to-do list afterwards, then get distracted by the over-flowing laundry basket or the neighbours cat. Eventually, I realise that I’ve wasted a lot of the day browsing Pinterest for my ideal home office (the one I’m not going to be able to afford unless I get off my phone and start smashing dem deadlines) and feel a bit deflated.

This morning, when my alarm sounded at 9am (told ya, perks) I lay in bed and contemplated whether I could be bothered to head into town today. I’d agreed to meet a friend for brunch but I knew that he’d either be very late or sleep through it entirely, and I had an invite to a press day which I decided nobody would really notice if I actually attended or not. However I realised that, should I stay at home, it would be my third day in a row without going outside other than to hang the washing out or interacting face to face. I did the whole “3…2…1…okay UP” thing in my head and jumped in the shower before I could change my mind.

I know, I know, I’m about as deep as a puddle, but putting on some make up, a spritz of perfume and a sassy little outfit (helllllooo metallic Zara jeans) really does alter my entire mindset. I took a very self-indulgent selfie – praise the lord of VSCO from HB1 – to commemorate the occasion and then headed to the train station.

 

Things That Happened to Me That Wouldn’t Have Done if I’d Stayed at Home: 

1. I ate a Dishoom bacon naan roll for breakfast *happy tears*
2. I got a spontaneous cartilage piercing in Soho (sorry Mama)
3. I went to a Christmas in July press day and stocked up on all them festive feels
4. I networked, chatted and laughed with new people
5. I came home feeling inspired and full of new content ideas

 

How My Day Would Probably Have Gone if I’d Stayed at Home: 

1. Trackie bottoms
2. 2 hours spent ‘working’ on the sofa (i.e. watching This Morning)
3. Weird fridge snack breaks
4. Cat videos
5. Zero human contact

 

I’m a big advocate of duvet days when you really need them, but they’re not very conducive to a productive working environment. It’s all well and good telling yourself that you’re going to get up, dressed (in something that doesn’t have a drawstring waist) and sit at the desk like a good little worker bee ready to bash out a to-do list as long as the Great Wall by midday, but then you’ve got to actually see it through.

It can be as simple as a change of scenery, conversation that doesn’t have a subject line and coffee out of a mug without a half-faded Disney character on it to give your mojo a little boost and save your sanity too. You don’t have to spend a lot of money (or any – there’s always the library) or do anything fancy, but getting out – even just for an hour – can make a huge difference to your productivity levels and success.