Get Outiside More Often If You’re Working From Home
“I jump right into work when I’m ready. And leave when I’m done. There’s zero friction between working and not.” — Wade Foster, Co-founder and CEO of Zapier
Funny story — spending more time outside was the biggest struggle for me for a long time after I started to work from home, even though I wanted to spend more time at home initially. When I’m sitting in the same four walls all day, I start looking for ways to go out more, while when I had to commute to the office, I wanted to stay at home as much as I could. Who knew.
I tried to work at a coworking space
I realized that remote work is not a temporary thing, and I’m not going to work in the office at all when I was in my early twenties. At that time, I was much more outgoing than now, and getting together with friends wasn’t something I had to plan or even think about it. It just happened every day. Now that I’m in my thirties, things have changed. Everyone is busy, and it’s hard to find a time that works for everyone. The problem became noticeable a few years ago when I realized that most of my friends started their families or became serious professionals at their jobs. There was simply not enough time for us to hang out anymore because each one had his own inner circle now.
Trying to find a way to spend more time among people, I started working in a coworking space. It was a nightmare because of all the distractions. It was an open space, and there was a marketing agency that rented half of the space for its employees. They acted like it’s their own office. The salespeople were making calls right at their workspaces, managers were always talking on the phone too, and their boss had a very annoying habit of walking around, shouting out loud on the phone while talking to his partners. That is not to mention the enormous amount of time I had to spend to commute back and forth, plus some time to get ready to go to work and recharge afterward.
Then I adopted a dog
After a few months of coworking, I decided that I’m better off sitting at home alone. I had to find a reason to spend more time outside, and someone suggested that I should adopt a dog. I never had a dog before, so to get used to them, I started to visit the local dog shelter a few times per week. I even picked one who seemed to like me the most and was going to take him home soon. One day I found a large stray dog on a porch of my house and adopted him instead. I figured that it’s harder to find the home for a dog on the street than for the one in the shelter. Six years later, this guy is my best friend and number one reason I get regular walks every day.
I’m not saying that if you’re working remotely, you should adopt a dog. I’m pretty sure though that cat isn’t going to work. Cats are so cuddly and cozy, they make you want to stay at home forever. Don’t get me wrong, I love cats, at least now — my wife came with one as a bonus, and we adopted another one recently. But cats aren’t as excited about going for a walk as dogs are. Or maybe they’re just not as good at expressing their true feelings.
Spending more time outside is good for you
Having regular walks is beneficial for your general health. I’m not a doctor, but I feel the advantage of walking a lot every day. It’s an excersise, and it gets the blood flowing to your brain and other organs. It means that you feel better, you think better and your mood is better too. I like to take a long walk after I had a long period of work. While the body is busy with doing the walking, the mind has some time to recharge. By the time I get back, I’m ready to work again.
It’s good for your eyes too. I’ve been lucky to have good eyesight even though I’m spending whole days in front of the computer screen since I was five (I think it was a TV first five years, but it’s even worse). But I’m not counting on genetics and trying to take care of my eyes before any problems occur, and so need you. You can find a lot of eye exercises online, and most of them make the muscles in your eyes to work out. Yes, eyes can be trained the same way as ABS. When walking, you shift focus between different objects around you, which trains those eye muscles. Plus, you don’t experience the constant beam of light from a computer screen, allowing the eyes to relax. Believe me, they will be thankful for that.
Regular walks build a routine. It’s easy to stay in sweatpants (or yoga pants) all day long and forget about the shower when carried away by the work you’re doing. When you know that you’ll have to go for a walk, there’s no other option than to get yourself together, take a shower, dress up and go. With a routine like that, you can be sure that next time you go out with friends, you won’t look like you’ve spent the last few months on an island.
Even though I’m talking mostly about walks, it doesn’t mean that it’s the only way to get outside. It’s just the one that’s been working for me for years. If you’re a people person, you might find exciting events to go to. Or maybe unlike me, you have friends who also happen to work remotely, and you will be able to get together with them. The gym works great too — it’s both an exercise and a way to socialize.
The idea of getting outside more often may sound contradictory to the whole concept of remote work. After all, the entire point of working from home is to spend more time at home. Well, for me, it was always about spending less time on the commute and working more efficiently due to the lack of distractions. When working remotely, you have a choice of when you want to get outside, what you want to do, and with whom.
