This week I decided to move my desk outside to my front porch. Spring/summer is here, and I really have no excuse to stay inside anymore. I work for myself, from home, and I have a beautiful covered porch that looks out over town and the mountains. My office is a laptop computer (I wrote before about my abandoned desktop computer) and streaming music from Pandora, so why not sit outside and be inspired to write by nature? For the first 12 years of my working life, I worked in corporate America either in a cubicle or in an office – so now that I work for myself I need to take advantage of it! I am now going to turn my Macbook around and take a picture of what the scene is from my desk on the porch:
Sitting outside I have a lot more to look at then when inside my house; I watch the birds at the bird feeders, the rabbits hopping right outside my fence, the clouds moving across the New Mexico sky. I can wave to my neighbor when they drive by, I can still see the last of the winter snow up on the top of the mountains, I can see the rose bushes start to blossom. It’s kind of like living a Location Independent Lifestyle…with the comforts of my own home only 20 feet away. Granted, I would like to live that location independent lifestyle at some point in my life, but for now I will settle for the front porch. I know many of my friends work from home, and I hope they are taking advantage of that in some way. I realize how lucky I am to be able to do so!
On another note, I am also doing my best to shorten my workday. When I first started working for myself almost 3 years ago, I stayed tied to my desk from 9-5 like when I had a “regular” job. Guess I thought I would be more productive if I acted as though I still had to go to work every morning! But now I am trying to consolidate my work day down to about 4-5 hours tops, so I can have the afternoons to work on other projects or just enjoy the outdoors. Again, what’s the use of working for yourself, from home, if you don’t take advantage of it? I found that by concentrating my efforts in the morning, instead of just slacking off, I can get all my work done for the entire day (most of the time), leaving me the afternoon to do what I want. I still struggle with continually checking email or Twitter all day and night, but I am trying to break that habit too. (it’s not going well) On Fridays, I try to prepare everything (blog posts, especially) for the weekend, so I don’t have to work on Saturday and Sunday. This leaves me more time to work in the yard or the garage and concentrate on my needs rather than the needs of clients and/or websites. And there is nothing more important than having your own “me time”, and I am trying my best to make sure I take what I need for myself. As long as I can still support us and put a little something away for a rainy day, I am happy with the money I bring in. I would rather work less and make less than work more and make more. It took a while to be OK with that mentality, but I am now secure in knowing what is important to me.
Living a Simple. Organized. Life. takes some work and rearranging of long-held beliefs & habits, but it’s well worth it in the end. If you can work outside or work less hours, I highly recommend you trying it on for size. You will be pleasantly surprised by what you get back in return.
This sounds wonderful! We are currently completing the construction of a new home, which has a wrap-around covered porch. The view is fantastic, looking out over both a freshwater pond and a saltwater creek. I homeschool two of my children and had considered setting up an outdoor work area for them on the porch. You’ve just convinced me to do it! 🙂
I cannot recommend it enough!
I smiled when I read this post. I don’t work from home, but do some blogging and bill paying online in the evenings. Just last night, for the first time, I took my laptop out on the back patio and did a little work while the kids ran around the yard. It was a beautiful day. Just being outside did wonders for my outlook.
I think moving the office outside is a great idea. I’ve also been working from home for some years now, and I tend to do the same. I sit outside on the patio, or in the kitchen with the kitchen door open in the Summer. I love to feel that fresh air coming in!