6 ms·

My 1 hour commute where I got much needed downtime during which I would read books was replaced with sitting in front of my screen working. Basically wound up w

My 1 hour commute where I got much needed downtime during which I would read books was replaced with sitting in front of my screen working. Basically wound up working additional 2 hours a day. Just totally unable to switch off either. Fucking hate it. Muh happier commuting and working with real people in an office.

mnahkies 6y ago
I understand the desire to work with people face to face, but regarding the lack of downtime on your commute: have you considered simply reading at home, or going to a coffee shop for an hour before/after work? I've found replacing my 1 hour subway journey with a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood with a podcast to be much better for my wellbeing
- nullsense 6y ago
  I'm smart enough to think up those ideas on my own. Unfortunately I can't get my brain to do them. WFH is a real net loss for me. I can't enforce boundaries on my own, so the natural ones are incredibly important to me.
theodric 6y ago
Clock in when you would normally arrive at work, and clock out when you would leave. Even my employer, a big, ancient, conservative firm, has started telling employees to set boundaries.
- nullsense 6y ago
  Only way I could actually do that would be to have a physical shutdown/timed power switch that cut me off. I have that for my personal devices in order to get to bed on time. If I had to WFH long term, I'd institute that for sure, else there's no way I can just switch off. I can't really set my own boundaries.
  - ondee 6y ago
    Then you need to talk to a professional about it. Life doesn't have to be like this, I promise :)
  - jlokier 6y ago
    What nullsense is describing is a problem a lot of people are reporting during pandemic WFH. It doesn't make sense to trivialise it, it's a real and significant problem. What makes sense is to understand it and come up with ways to change it. Brains have a lot to answer for. So do social pressures inside homes. Maybe your brain needs 2 x 1 hour chunks every day, staring out of a window with nothing you have to do, nobody to talk with, no pressure whatsoever, supported even by an effortless coffee and snack that magically arrive, to reset your brain between major contexts. But in some homes, taking 2 hours of "downtime" will result in conflict on a regular basis, and it will escalate. Maybe you'll get asked to do more chores. Fix things on the household backlog. Talk through things on the household backlog. Maybe you'll find yourself in conversations that prevent you getting essential brain-rest that you were used to before WFH. There's a big difference in practice in domestic interactions between being physically unavailable because you're on the train or in a car for 2 hours, versus looking to others like you're doing "nothing" for 2 hours. This is not a problem which can be solved by some little conversation. Even when other people understand, they don't feel at ease. It's a lingering point of conflict in many households, previously resolved by leaving the house and "having to go". If you don't have other people at home, that are different issues at play, but a lot of people are reporting similar brain boundary issues with pandemic WFH when living alone too.
tester34 6y ago
That's what I miss. I used to commute by train basically 2.5h daily, so I could spend that on e.g reading books But on the other hand vision of waking up around 8:30 instead of 7, and then being at home around 16:30 instead of 18 is so good. I just need to improve my work ethics(personal, not an actual work) I think the best trade off is like 2-3 days of WFH and the rest on site.
Smithalicious 6y ago
Then just don't do that
- nullsense 6y ago
  Solid advice mate. Why didn't I think of just not doing it? It's so simple it's almost genius. Just don't do it. Wish I'd thought if that sooner. It was staring me in the face the whole time. Just... Don't do it! Of course. Silly me. Silly me for continuing to do something day in day out that I obviously don't like or want to do, but could just opt not to but for some reason don't. I wonder why that is...
  - wastedhours 6y ago
    I don't quite get your flippance - you weren't doing it before, and are now doing it. What's changed? Why are you working extra hours at home when in the office you wouldn't have? What's the externalities here? Why has 2 hours downtime turned into 2 hours more work, rather than 2 hours of downtime at home? I admit the OP was blunt, but it's not a ridiculous question - where has the time gone?
    - visarga 6y ago
      It's not a problem of time being gone, but a problem of being harder to control how much we work at home.
      - wastedhours 6y ago
        > being harder to control how much we work at home I find this really hard to relate to though, I know the lines do get blurred and overworking by a bit is easier (personally, I maybe close the lid at 6:10pm rather than 5:59pm), but I can't see how (in any non-toxic work environment) the boundaries can get so blurred in such a short space of time to extend the working hours in a day by 25%. If it was perfectly acceptable to log off at 6pm when you were in the office, I don't see how it's "the fault" of homeworking that's pushing that to 7pm. Likewise - if you were in the office for 9am, why log on at 8am at home? If the only thing stopping some people from overworking themselves are simple environmental cues, that sounds like something that needs to be solved, and solved quickly for homeworking (and by any non-asshole manager). It's unlikely it's not going to be a major part of knowledge working in the future. For a lot of us, we're already months into doing this full time by now, and likely, months away from even venturing back into the office part time.
theshrike79 6y ago
The ability to switch from work to personal time is something everyone either learns by themselves or is eventually forced to learn after burning out. A few colleagues use their commute time to take a walk around the block, that gets them in "work mode". And after they clock out they do the same in reverse.
dudul 6y ago
Did someone force you to spend this hour in front of the screen? Its up to you to decide what to do with the 1 hour you used to spend commuting.
cableshaft 6y ago
Can you go outside with a book at all? Even if you live in an apartment, there should be either some shared courtyard space or a balcony. Even just going out into the hall. That's basically what students did when I was in the dorms at college. Put some physical space between you and your work environment. I live in a house, so I can just take a seat on the patio out back (as long as it's not cold or raining like it is today), but there should be some equivalent. Do that for an hour then go back into your apartment and sign in for work.

mnahkies 6y ago

I understand the desire to work with people face to face, but regarding the lack of downtime on your commute: have you considered simply reading at home, or going to a coffee shop for an hour before/after work? I've found replacing my 1 hour subway journey with a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood with a podcast to be much better for my wellbeing

nullsense 6y ago
I'm smart enough to think up those ideas on my own. Unfortunately I can't get my brain to do them. WFH is a real net loss for me. I can't enforce boundaries on my own, so the natural ones are incredibly important to me.

theodric 6y ago

Clock in when you would normally arrive at work, and clock out when you would leave. Even my employer, a big, ancient, conservative firm, has started telling employees to set boundaries.

nullsense 6y ago
Only way I could actually do that would be to have a physical shutdown/timed power switch that cut me off. I have that for my personal devices in order to get to bed on time. If I had to WFH long term, I'd institute that for sure, else there's no way I can just switch off. I can't really set my own boundaries.
- ondee 6y ago
  Then you need to talk to a professional about it. Life doesn't have to be like this, I promise :)
- jlokier 6y ago
  What nullsense is describing is a problem a lot of people are reporting during pandemic WFH. It doesn't make sense to trivialise it, it's a real and significant problem. What makes sense is to understand it and come up with ways to change it. Brains have a lot to answer for. So do social pressures inside homes. Maybe your brain needs 2 x 1 hour chunks every day, staring out of a window with nothing you have to do, nobody to talk with, no pressure whatsoever, supported even by an effortless coffee and snack that magically arrive, to reset your brain between major contexts. But in some homes, taking 2 hours of "downtime" will result in conflict on a regular basis, and it will escalate. Maybe you'll get asked to do more chores. Fix things on the household backlog. Talk through things on the household backlog. Maybe you'll find yourself in conversations that prevent you getting essential brain-rest that you were used to before WFH. There's a big difference in practice in domestic interactions between being physically unavailable because you're on the train or in a car for 2 hours, versus looking to others like you're doing "nothing" for 2 hours. This is not a problem which can be solved by some little conversation. Even when other people understand, they don't feel at ease. It's a lingering point of conflict in many households, previously resolved by leaving the house and "having to go". If you don't have other people at home, that are different issues at play, but a lot of people are reporting similar brain boundary issues with pandemic WFH when living alone too.

tester34 6y ago

That's what I miss. I used to commute by train basically 2.5h daily, so I could spend that on e.g reading books But on the other hand vision of waking up around 8:30 instead of 7, and then being at home around 16:30 instead of 18 is so good. I just need to improve my work ethics(personal, not an actual work) I think the best trade off is like 2-3 days of WFH and the rest on site.

Smithalicious 6y ago

Then just don't do that

nullsense 6y ago
Solid advice mate. Why didn't I think of just not doing it? It's so simple it's almost genius. Just don't do it. Wish I'd thought if that sooner. It was staring me in the face the whole time. Just... Don't do it! Of course. Silly me. Silly me for continuing to do something day in day out that I obviously don't like or want to do, but could just opt not to but for some reason don't. I wonder why that is...
- wastedhours 6y ago
  I don't quite get your flippance - you weren't doing it before, and are now doing it. What's changed? Why are you working extra hours at home when in the office you wouldn't have? What's the externalities here? Why has 2 hours downtime turned into 2 hours more work, rather than 2 hours of downtime at home? I admit the OP was blunt, but it's not a ridiculous question - where has the time gone?
  - visarga 6y ago
    It's not a problem of time being gone, but a problem of being harder to control how much we work at home.
    - wastedhours 6y ago
      > being harder to control how much we work at home I find this really hard to relate to though, I know the lines do get blurred and overworking by a bit is easier (personally, I maybe close the lid at 6:10pm rather than 5:59pm), but I can't see how (in any non-toxic work environment) the boundaries can get so blurred in such a short space of time to extend the working hours in a day by 25%. If it was perfectly acceptable to log off at 6pm when you were in the office, I don't see how it's "the fault" of homeworking that's pushing that to 7pm. Likewise - if you were in the office for 9am, why log on at 8am at home? If the only thing stopping some people from overworking themselves are simple environmental cues, that sounds like something that needs to be solved, and solved quickly for homeworking (and by any non-asshole manager). It's unlikely it's not going to be a major part of knowledge working in the future. For a lot of us, we're already months into doing this full time by now, and likely, months away from even venturing back into the office part time.

theshrike79 6y ago

The ability to switch from work to personal time is something everyone either learns by themselves or is eventually forced to learn after burning out. A few colleagues use their commute time to take a walk around the block, that gets them in "work mode". And after they clock out they do the same in reverse.

dudul 6y ago

Did someone force you to spend this hour in front of the screen? Its up to you to decide what to do with the 1 hour you used to spend commuting.

cableshaft 6y ago

Can you go outside with a book at all? Even if you live in an apartment, there should be either some shared courtyard space or a balcony. Even just going out into the hall. That's basically what students did when I was in the dorms at college. Put some physical space between you and your work environment. I live in a house, so I can just take a seat on the patio out back (as long as it's not cold or raining like it is today), but there should be some equivalent. Do that for an hour then go back into your apartment and sign in for work.