There seems to be no small amount of glee floating around as the Covid-19 related changes are putting more and more people in the position of “tele-commuting.” (working from home) That’s something I have a lot of experience at doing.  I started my business in my apartment dining nook in 1986.  Incorporated in 1989 and moved to a two bedroom where the extra bedroom became my office.  I am now married and I own and, because I am a cheap guy, a “wing” of the home is set aside as my workspace.  In other words, I have been working from home for thirty years.  Done well, it is not something you should get excited about.

Here are some rules and thoughts:

• If the TV is on, you are doing it wrong.
• If you are not showered and shaved and dressed and at your desk at the same time you would be in an office, you are doing it wrong.  PJ’s make you more interested in relaxing than working.  The point here is to work.
• You should be more, not less, productive than you are in the office.  At home there are no interruptions, no water cooler chats, no shooting the breeze – just working.
• The refrigerator is not your friend.  The only thing worse than working in pajamas is getting fat while you do it.
• Surfing the internet, looking at YouTube or Facebook or Twitter, is just as much a waste of time at home as it is at the office.
• If you log working time at home, but are doing anything other than work, you are stealing from your employer.

Perhaps I sound like a nose to the grindstone, harda$$, curmudgeon.  You may be right.  All I know is this – I have enjoyed far more success than I had any pretensions, or any right to, working from home.  When I started I thought it was a gravy train.  The success did not come until I learned otherwise.

Just sayin’