Scheduling
Working from home, I have a very skewed sense of the passage of time. Clocks and calendars abound on the walls of my house, and it's clear to see what time of day it is, but I don't work a "normal" work schedule -- I'm usually at it starting at around 7 AM and usually don't finish until well after the kids go to bed. I It's not a statement against how busy I am -- I'm grateful to be working in the field I'm in and I love my job. But I've recently begun thinking about how this schedule has affected my lifestyle.
Five years ago, when I still worked in an office, my days were bracketed by the work week. It was a given that Monday through Friday, from about 8:30 to about 5 or 6, I'd be in a specific physical location doing specific tasks, away from Bonnie and kids. It's amazing how regemented your life gets when that's the case. Everything from getting groceries to filling up the gas tank relies on a schedule that occupies a major chunk of your life.
Working from home, it's a really different case. I'm not exactly my own boss -- I'm still beholden to the schedule and requirements of my employer, and their guidelines for how I'm supposed to do my job, but there's a lot more flexibility involved.
I'm also lucky enough that my boss doesn't begrudge it if I have to split for an hour to, say, go pick up some milk and bread and fill up the tank. Or if I want to go to a special event at my kids' schools.
But the downside of all this is that that regimentation is gone, and for someone with less-than-stellar organizational skills, this creates problems.
The other day, I had absolutely no idea what day of the week it was. It was either Tuesday or Wednesday, I couldn't remember for the life of me, and ended up having to ask Bonnie to figure it out. That's such a bizarre, disorienting feeling -- not knowing what day of the week it was, simply because I didn't have a set schedule to adhere to.
Comments
Day of the week? For me, it's in the upper right corner of the screen, with the time. Not that it matters that much to me. If it wasn't for church, Wed. night choir practice, and some GAMUG meetings, I'd have no reason to remember the day of the week. Well, a slight reason when I start working again next week.
Posted by: Alphax | March 26, 2004 11:39 AM
I had similar problems when I was working from home for Freeverse.
Being in charge of the servers means I was pretty much on call 24/7, although there were often gaps during times you wouldn't think (middle of the day) and duties times you wouldn't hope (late on Saturday night).
You add into this that Katie was working at Barnes & Noble, and she almost never had a weekend that fell on Saturday or Sunday - and by June of 2003 neither of us had any idea what day anything was. Real pain.
Posted by: Dan Dickinson | March 26, 2004 12:09 PM
Days? There are actual separate days that don't just run into each other? And weekends? What kind of concept is that?
My days are somewhat punctuated by Mel's school and appointment schedules and Glenda's work schedule...but I wouldn't say there was any kind of order to them. And, oddly, at the same time, I'm the keeper of the family schedule. Go figure.
Posted by: suellen | March 26, 2004 02:03 PM
Days? There are actual separate days that don't just run into each other? And weekends? What kind of concept is that?
My days are somewhat punctuated by Mel's school and appointment schedules and Glenda's work schedule...but I wouldn't say there was any kind of order to them. And, oddly, at the same time, I'm the keeper of the family schedule. Go figure.
Posted by: suellen | March 26, 2004 02:03 PM
I was so confused about what day it was, I posted twice. :~) Sorry.
Posted by: suellen | March 26, 2004 02:04 PM