4 ms·

3. I used to do this. Now I have a medical grade 6-foot monitor arm carrying my 32" display over my bed which tucks neatly into the wall. I have a set of pill

by mdip 3y ago

3. I used to do this. Now I have a medical grade 6-foot monitor arm carrying my 32" display over my bed which tucks neatly into the wall. I have a set of pillows designed to make a seating position like an "anti-gravity lounge chair", and between a wireless keyboard, mouse, I've never been more comfortable. Now, I am not married and live alone. I suspect I'll be ditching this setup if I choose to go down that road, again, but I ditched the whole "separate work from life" from a physical standpoint. It hasn't caused me to work "all kinds of extra hours", but it has allowed me to quickly sit up and write a few lines of code that are sitting in the corner of my mind keeping me from falling asleep. Before I'd just ruminate on them for hours b/c while I was awake enough to struggle falling asleep, I was tired enough to want to remain in bed. When I dropped $300 on this thing I thought "this is a stupid waste of money" ... that week, my laptop battery failed resulting in it being impossible to use since any vibration causes the power cable to stutter resulting in its immediate hibernation. But plug it in and set it on a stable surface with an external keyboard/mouse and it'll run all day. Since then, I've found I finish work feeling less sore (this position is extremely comfortable and my monitor stand adjusts/tilts so it's at exactly the right position). I'm no expert in ergonomics -- and I have a fantastic, highly adjustable (Herman Miller Aeron) chair in my office and an adjustable desk, but I've never finished my day without something aching until I started using my mega-bed-desk setup. And the best part is it tucks away nicely so it's not the focus of the room unless I'm working.

stormfather 3y ago
Post a picture of your setup please!
- mdip 3y ago
  LOL, I've been working a crunch time for two weeks that's just finishing up. I would never post my room in the condition it is in, however, I will post one after I have a weekend to clean :)
- mdip 3y ago
  This is the stand I bought, though: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07WRWFK33 https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07WRWFK33 Worth every penny -- it's very sturdy (pain to mount, must be perfectly level, but anything this big is challenging), and extremely adjustable (including stiffness at each of the positioning points which took a little while to get right -- you want to easily move the display but not so easily that gravity starts walking it around the room).
  - blakesterz 3y ago
    That link 404s for me, looks like it's the "AVLT Medical Grade 17.6 lbs Monitor Wall Mount - Mounts Ultrawide Monitor on 74" Long Extension Full Motion Height Adjustable Arm - for Healthcare and Maintenance Area"
    - mdip 3y ago
      That's the winner!
  - saltminer 3y ago
    Working link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRWFK33 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRWFK33
mdip 3y ago
... and I mean, I used to subscribe to nearly all of the "separate work from life" advice. I've been working remotely since 2004 except for a brief 4-years in the office. It's the reason my desk is "sit-stand" and I spent $1000 on a chair; I wanted my work environment to be a work environment. And it bled into everything else that I did. I tried to replicate the office experience in my home office and I really had no choice at the time -- that's how everyone I worked with worked. But in some circumstances, you have enough control over your work/environment that all of those artificial boundaries prevent you from taking advantage of the unique productivity benefits that working remotely can allow. I don't stress over how much I work. I work around 45-55 hours a week. I spend no time in traffic so on an average week I have more free time than I had in the office. I'm allowed to complete my work during whatever time of the day works for me. So I do. I write boilerplate better in the early morning. I write complex abstractions better late at night. I complete more work in less time because I don't get hung up on keeping hours. Sometimes I fight with a problem for an hour, head off to bed, wake up at 2:00 AM and have the answer in my head. Having my computer nearby means "I do it" -- ten minutes, fixed. The usual path that went was "I forgot all about that until something reminds me of it mid-day after I've spent half that day trying to fix it." And that happens to me enough to add up to a few days of time. I still work the same total number of hours in a week, but I am less stressed because things are being built better, fewer mistakes are being made and the "impact of my job on my life" feels like a lot less. Reading through your list, though, it sounds like you are already a very disciplined person. Outside of "writing software", I am not (which is why your #1 is so important, I'd have a tough time working remotely if I hated my job). It probably works perfectly for people who share your personality. Most of the items on your list I have tried at one point or another and because of my personality/tendencies, mostly backfired. Most of the changes I made are centered around eliminating any friction related to "getting started". If my bladder isn't screaming, the first thing I do when I wake up on a week day is grab my monitor and turn it on/check work-related things. Within ten minutes, I'm awake, I get up and do the morning routine/breakfast/etc. But it keeps me from having to "do the drudgery stuff" when I'm ready to "start working" and it helps me to get into a "work mood" when I'm waking up -- both of which I hate doing, but doing them together feels like I only "take the hit once." For example, I learned early on that I hated working in my office. I used to sit at the kitchen table with a laptop, sometimes while the kids were playing video games, but usually with a TV on some program I've seen a million times. I need the non-distracting noise and open space or I feel the need to get up so frequently that I can't focus long enough on the problems I'm solving. I carry my laptop between rooms when I'm feeling stuck and it often helps. In almost every way the more I remove from "forcing an office way of working on my remote work life" -- essentially, giving myself as much freedom around where/when/how I work -- I am more productive and much happier. And just to restate: I'm not taking issue or saying any of your advice is wrong. Most people do not work the way that I do. Maybe most would find working my way horrible or might lead to being a workaholic (my motivation for changing things was to work less and it worked ... for me). I get that there's probably a lot of folks who would have exactly the opposite experience doing exactly what works for me, or would find it to be distracting/problematic. I'm just putting this out there for the folks who are struggling following advice like this (everything I've said goes pretty contrary to the common wisdom about working from home including every bit of information every employer has ever sent me on the subject) ... So if my advice makes sense to you, maybe you're backward, too, and you need something different. ;)

by mdip 3y ago

stormfather 3y ago

Post a picture of your setup please!

mdip 3y ago
LOL, I've been working a crunch time for two weeks that's just finishing up. I would never post my room in the condition it is in, however, I will post one after I have a weekend to clean :)
mdip 3y ago
This is the stand I bought, though: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07WRWFK33 https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07WRWFK33 Worth every penny -- it's very sturdy (pain to mount, must be perfectly level, but anything this big is challenging), and extremely adjustable (including stiffness at each of the positioning points which took a little while to get right -- you want to easily move the display but not so easily that gravity starts walking it around the room).
- blakesterz 3y ago
  That link 404s for me, looks like it's the "AVLT Medical Grade 17.6 lbs Monitor Wall Mount - Mounts Ultrawide Monitor on 74" Long Extension Full Motion Height Adjustable Arm - for Healthcare and Maintenance Area"
  - mdip 3y ago
    That's the winner!
- saltminer 3y ago
  Working link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRWFK33 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WRWFK33

mdip 3y ago

... and I mean, I used to subscribe to nearly all of the "separate work from life" advice. I've been working remotely since 2004 except for a brief 4-years in the office. It's the reason my desk is "sit-stand" and I spent $1000 on a chair; I wanted my work environment to be a work environment. And it bled into everything else that I did. I tried to replicate the office experience in my home office and I really had no choice at the time -- that's how everyone I worked with worked. But in some circumstances, you have enough control over your work/environment that all of those artificial boundaries prevent you from taking advantage of the unique productivity benefits that working remotely can allow. I don't stress over how much I work. I work around 45-55 hours a week. I spend no time in traffic so on an average week I have more free time than I had in the office. I'm allowed to complete my work during whatever time of the day works for me. So I do. I write boilerplate better in the early morning. I write complex abstractions better late at night. I complete more work in less time because I don't get hung up on keeping hours. Sometimes I fight with a problem for an hour, head off to bed, wake up at 2:00 AM and have the answer in my head. Having my computer nearby means "I do it" -- ten minutes, fixed. The usual path that went was "I forgot all about that until something reminds me of it mid-day after I've spent half that day trying to fix it." And that happens to me enough to add up to a few days of time. I still work the same total number of hours in a week, but I am less stressed because things are being built better, fewer mistakes are being made and the "impact of my job on my life" feels like a lot less. Reading through your list, though, it sounds like you are already a very disciplined person. Outside of "writing software", I am not (which is why your #1 is so important, I'd have a tough time working remotely if I hated my job). It probably works perfectly for people who share your personality. Most of the items on your list I have tried at one point or another and because of my personality/tendencies, mostly backfired. Most of the changes I made are centered around eliminating any friction related to "getting started". If my bladder isn't screaming, the first thing I do when I wake up on a week day is grab my monitor and turn it on/check work-related things. Within ten minutes, I'm awake, I get up and do the morning routine/breakfast/etc. But it keeps me from having to "do the drudgery stuff" when I'm ready to "start working" and it helps me to get into a "work mood" when I'm waking up -- both of which I hate doing, but doing them together feels like I only "take the hit once." For example, I learned early on that I hated working in my office. I used to sit at the kitchen table with a laptop, sometimes while the kids were playing video games, but usually with a TV on some program I've seen a million times. I need the non-distracting noise and open space or I feel the need to get up so frequently that I can't focus long enough on the problems I'm solving. I carry my laptop between rooms when I'm feeling stuck and it often helps. In almost every way the more I remove from "forcing an office way of working on my remote work life" -- essentially, giving myself as much freedom around where/when/how I work -- I am more productive and much happier. And just to restate: I'm not taking issue or saying any of your advice is wrong. Most people do not work the way that I do. Maybe most would find working my way horrible or might lead to being a workaholic (my motivation for changing things was to work less and it worked ... for me). I get that there's probably a lot of folks who would have exactly the opposite experience doing exactly what works for me, or would find it to be distracting/problematic. I'm just putting this out there for the folks who are struggling following advice like this (everything I've said goes pretty contrary to the common wisdom about working from home including every bit of information every employer has ever sent me on the subject) ... So if my advice makes sense to you, maybe you're backward, too, and you need something different. ;)