Sometimes You Just Gotta Get Away

What I find curious is one of the selling points of being a freelancer or any kind of stay at home and that is the fact that you get to work at home. While this sounds appealing on many levels (and it is, don't get me wrong), important things are forgotten; namely:

-Home is a source of severe distractions (in my case, a two year old)
-Home is supposed to the place you enjoy, not your workplace

It has been imprinted on our psyche that to 'go to work', you have to 'go' somewhere. Some freelancers combat that by going for a walk around the block before starting work so that they feel as though they 'went' to work, even though they're just going back home. But if you don't do this, you may find that the watery line between work and home ruins productivity. It's easier to get distracted at home, it's easier to feel like you can just pop onto Facebook (for twenty minutes) because no one is going to catch you at it and it's just generally easier to leave work alone and then fall behind.

This is a problem of mine. I'm a relatively swift typist and researcher, but at home, it's too easy to get distracted. So today, as a double experiment, I went to Starbucks and worked there. It was a double experiment because not only was I seeing if I could work there (both myself and if Starbucks would let me) and to see if my husband and my son would bond better without my being there to distract my son.

A 'yea' on all three counts. I worked better, stronger, and actually felt more refreshed after working than at home where I'm trying to work AND deal with my toddler AND do housework. My son and my husband did fine together for a few hours. So, I'm thinking this will be a regular occurrence and hopefully, my productivity will soar.

Sometimes, you can't just work at home; you have to work somewhere else. Now that's something those glittery ads won't tell you!