
Tips for Staying Sane While Working from Home - geerlingguy
http://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2016/protips-staying-sane-while-working-home-phptek-2016-session
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cyberferret
Good article. I've been working from home for nearly a decade now.

One thing that I think the presentation needs to stress is the overall Feng
Shui of your working space. Working from home means that you have almost
complete control over the layout of your workspace.

For example, in the slides, the OP shows us his neat little custom workspace
he built (in his basement?). I like the fact that he has his desk so that he
faced the entrance door square on while working. For the first couple of years
in my home office, I say with my back to the glass door entrance to my space,
and never really felt comfortable for some inexplicable reason. Then I moved
my desk around so that I (sort of) faced the door, and immediately felt much
more comfortable and productive.

Tiny little things like that can make a big performance difference. Same with
lighting and cooling etc., which he mentions.

One difference though is that while I don't allow 'toys' like gaming consoles
in my 'office', I have sectioned off a space for my guitars and amps in there
because it fuels my creativity when I am feeling burned out. Nothing like
cranking the amp while waiting for a long compile or download...

My workspace: [https://flic.kr/p/HpBN4Q](https://flic.kr/p/HpBN4Q)

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williamstein
He emphasizes video in several places, e.g., "Add a conference call/video
meeting to every meeting, no exceptions" and "Use video if at all possible".
However, a very significant drawback to video (over written chat) is that it
is much, much harder for other people to see or refer back to later.

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mordocai
This is the status quo for meetings in general though, yes? In both cases
unless you have someone scribing, you have no easy to refer to records.

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mjevans
That's why I -hate- non-written form meetings.

For brainstorming, where the meeting is shoving data up on to some
board/display the open form of 'meeting' can be fine.

For any meeting where you'd bring a powerpoint, a well written set of steps
and pictures is probably better.

For any meeting where decisions must be reached; the entire addenda of the
meeting should have been published along with any resources to reach the
decision beforehand; INCLUDING time for participants to ask follow-up
questions and receive answers about the material.

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kelvin0
Worked 6 years+ from home, and all this is GREAT advice. Only one Item
missing: Physical Activity. If you drop everything else (which you should not)
at least exercise regularly.

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bootload
_" Only one Item missing: Physical Activity."_

PT before work, PUxN entering the kitchen.

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mobiuscog
To me, this is more of 'how to work from your own personal office'... working
from home _should_ change the work/life balance and integrate the two more
together.

Obviously, you need some separation - no kids watching tv in front of you
whilst your working, etc. - but if you go too far, there's no real point to
working from home unless you live too far to commute.

Maybe it depends heavily on 'why' you're working from home.

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geocrasher
I have been working from home for the past several years, and found many of
the tips to be very very good. I'm fortunate to have a separate office, quiet
environment etc. I love not commuting! I wrote about it in 2013 here if anyone
wants to have a look: [http://www.tidbitsfortechs.com/2013/08/experiences-and-
reali...](http://www.tidbitsfortechs.com/2013/08/experiences-and-realities-of-
a-work-from-home-it-worker/)

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logn
And track your time. Don't work too little or too much, and it's good
motivation to not take too many breaks. On linux I like
[https://projecthamster.wordpress.com/about/](https://projecthamster.wordpress.com/about/)

Also outside of major metro areas renting a single office might make sense.
Between office space and internet access it would cost about $250/mo in the
Midwest.

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geerlingguy
Yeah; co-working spaces or even a small individual office is usually
$200-500/month, depending on the level of other services and location (in the
Midwest).

I didn't focus on many of the other benefits, but one of my favorites is being
able to work wherever I want, with a bunch of other people who are doing the
same and provide a good dose of geographical/cultural diversity!

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toypaj
I use Screenflow to record meetings and also whatever is on my screen at the
same time, will continue to do this.

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toypaj
I'm moving and will be working from my new home, will try to do at least a few
of these.

Don't want to get distracted, as that is what happens in the normal office,
toypaj can you just...

