tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post2285452304138551484..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Friday FourGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-28966425742653867802014-05-09T09:03:35.340-06:002014-05-09T09:03:35.340-06:00Having done this in Boston and St. Louis, I find t...Having done this in Boston and St. Louis, I find that not needing a car makes working from home a little bit easier. Nothing can goof up a whole half-day worse than some unexpected errand that requires a long car trip on top of it. (I otherwise daisy-chain errands to reduce the amount of driving overhead.)<br /><br />That said, I'm not exactly in the middle of nowhere. There ia a coffee shop I can walk to if I need to get out of the house and don't want to drive or can't because my wife needs the car.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-75272674375587726702014-05-09T08:06:54.180-06:002014-05-09T08:06:54.180-06:00Yo, Gus, thanks for the link for Matt Gemmell'...Yo, Gus, thanks for the link for Matt Gemmell's post. I've been working as a free-lancer at home for a few months now, and that's great advice he offers: I think I said "Check" to myself at every point he made--dressing for work in the morning, taking walks and such, even the bit on exercise. (Heh, half a block away from our place is a small gym that costs me about $30 a month [yes, really] for an hour or so a day six days a week if I want. It's a great blessing.)<br /><br />Especially about scheduling breaks: I find that a useful practice for me is to schedule housework breaks, ten minutes or so every hour in the morning. That way I'm not tempted to get the place sparkling clean before starting work (an open door to procrastination) but also get housework done that needs to get done. (And a clean, organized set work place is essential, as he says.)<br /><br />The set schedule in the morning is important too. In this case jet lag actually helped me; when I returned from the US my last vacation I ended up after my week's adjustment getting up automatically at 7:45 every morning, and I make sure to do so even on days without work.<br /><br />The biggest problem is that my wife works an irregular schedule from week to week five minutes' walk from work. That can sometimes interrupt me when working. But, as he says, self-control is the key here, and taking a professional attitude to your work is the major part of that.Snedcatnoreply@blogger.com