WITHOUT BOUNDARIES...

I have never worked from home for any significant period of time. I've always had an office or place of employment. I've always had colleagues and clients to interact with.

I thought that my consulting work had prepared me to work from home. I was used to writing blogs in the mornings and on the weekends. I had been doing Zoom meetings with Advisors for years before the pandemic hit.

I didn't realize that time warps when you only work from home. The last 15 months have been the longest and the shortest of my life. They were a never-ending blur of groundhog days that are indistinguishable from the last. And a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic that seemed to pass in an instant when I look back.

Now it is time to begin transitioning back to the real world, and I don't want to. I know I need to. I know it will actually be good for me, but the comfort of yoga pants and slippers are hard to leave behind! The 20-second commute and breaks spent with my Chihuahua will be missed!

Luckily, I am being forced out of my comfort zone by the summer heat. My home office is in an addition that was added on to my house. It isn't air-conditioned and has limited insulation. It boils in the afternoon heat. I boil!

I have realized that working from home has a major drawback; at least for me, Parkinson's Law is in full effect. If you aren't familiar, Parkinson's Law is the idea that

"Work expands as to fill the time available for its completion."

It seems logical that cutting out the commute and conversations with co-workers would make us more effective. The lack of distractions would allow us to be laser-focused on the work. I found the opposite to be true.

Without boundaries, everything expands.

-Getting ready should take less time, but it takes forever when you add in cleaning the kitchen and doing some laundry.

- Since you don't waste time chatting with co-workers, surely a little social media time isn't a big deal. Queue a 20-minute jaunt down the Facebook rabbit hole.

- Because I can work later at home, I can always "do it later," until 5 PM comes, and I eject myself from my home office because I am absolutely stir-crazy.

Work expands as to fill the time available for its completion.

Working from home has made me so much less effective and motivated. I do my job, but just my job. I don't have the energy and focus to imagine, expand, learn. To go above and beyond.

I have learned that I can survive just fine at home, but truly, I need to go to work to thrive at work!

Going to the office creates boundaries. My morning ends, and my workday begins. I close up my computer and go home for the night. I get it done, or I don't. There is no fantasy that "I will do it later."

The lesson it takes from this entire WFH experiment is that boundaries are the key to my own personal success and satisfaction. And I lack the discipline to create those boundaries at home effectively.

Well, gotta run, the office is calling!
-Lucila

PS I would love to hear from you about your work-from-home experiences. What did you learn? What did you love, and where did you struggle? We can learn so much by observing ourselves and taking away the lessons that will serve us as we move forward.

Jump over to the TIA Mastermind Group and tell us your WFH story!