Just discovered your blog. I like it. One of the better blogs around. Keep up the good work. I just bookmarked your site.

I’m not trying to create an empire, just a little more money. While I make a good salary, as you know the whole job thing is so tenuous. Especially nowadays.

So really, I am seeking for a passion. Seems so odd to say, but I found most of my life in recent years is an attempt to find balance and equanimity. Keeping calm in the midst of chaos served me well as an employee; I was able to be productive, etc. While that is a good thing (think how difficult it is to live through emotional instability and do anything worthwhile), I think it has blunted some fire within. What am I passionate about anyway?

I know it is around here somewhere, but I need to find it clearly and hit myself in the face with it. Once I give myself a bloody nose with my passion, then I’ll know I can grab and pursue it and make use it to create a successful venture.

PS, ‘yup’ in not accepted as an anti-spam answer.

You have to make sacrifices to create your ideal situation. If you’re not being productive, spending the $500/month could make you an extra $5k a month and be worth it. Congrats on making it work for you!

Great article,

Matt

I still haven’t decided if working from home is for me either. I love not having to leave the house on cold winter mornings. And I have no problem with productivity. But I hate that this house is so dark. Also, the isolation sucks.

And because I couldn’t stand having a cleaner in the house, while I’m actually here – I have to clean the house myself, which I can’t stand doing.

But I love not having to employ other people for a change. Life seems so much easier when the only people I’m responsible for are my own family.

Maybe I need to find a set-up to the one similar to what you’ve got. It’s just finding somewhere with a reasonable commute time that is the problem.

I’ve been interested in the coworking movement for a while. My previous company was located in the same building as a coworking space in Phoenix and I really enjoyed the creative energy there.

Now that I’ve left that job and am starting a web development company, I’m considering how I will work. Will it be from home, coffee shops, coworking spaces or a mix of all three? I imagine it will be all three at first, but I would love to work exclusively from a coworking space.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

Regardless, I totally understand how your change in scenery made you far more productive, and that’s what really matters. And I’m glad its working out for you.

Either way, I found that while it is much easier to get lazy at home, it is just as easy to be unproductive at the office. It is very easy especially working on the computer to go from research to aimless surfing. Best thing I found that works for me is to have a short list of things to do for the day (BEFORE the computer is switched on) & focus on those until they get done.

But, different strokes for different folks. As long as it works to get you the result of being productive.

Thanks for the valuable observation about how being comfortable at home, distinguished from laziness, can lead to a deleterious level of productivity.

It is quite a temptation to confuse being busy with making progress. I too am working at home and found email and other mundane tasks robbing my time.

I have become more ruthless with the emails and things that don’t bring me closer to my goals. I use a daily mind set of “does this activity bring me closer to what I want to achieve” to help, but I liked your point about the social interaction. I think it may bring a new sense of accountability into our work days.

Thanks again for a great post.