OK, so the clear desk policy hasn’t really worked out – at all – in fact things are worse than ever. On the plus side I have within reach pretty much every item I could ever need in my day-to-day working life (and then some).
In my defence, it’s the UK summer holidays, that time of year when British children get to spend 6 long weeks terrorising their parents. Today I’ve caught up with emails, made a couple of appointments, shuffled through my to-do list, built a chair, watched 2 DVDs, broken up 3 fights and failed to persuade my 5yo to get dressed (it’s now 16.55).
As far as actually getting work done, I’m very organised. I have a quoting and invoicing system that works, job bags for every project and a huge pad on which I scribble my ‘notes to self’. Being a home worker means that I often have to juggle tasks, I can’t just leave the house at 8am, work all day and return with a clear head for 6.30. I’m pretty much always thinking, and applying those thoughts whenever I get the chance. For my clients this is generally good news – as most of what I do relies on a healthy does of creative thinking, the more evolutionary time that goes into it, the better, and you’d be surprised at the ideas I come up with on the school run.
The school holidays are tough though, after a day hiding from entertaining my children, the idea of sitting down to work is not as tempting as the whole ‘slob out on the sofa and watch whatever nonsense Sky has gifted me this evening’ thing. I’m tired, my brain is cluttered and my productivity suffers. The first week off is generally a write-off anyway, so that was expected. By now I should have shrugged off the change in routine and have settled back into making it work.
However this year we decided to build me a new office. This involved converting part of our garage – If memory serves, we did the basic stud walls and shell back in July. The plan was for it all to be finished for the end of July and yet here we are in August and I still have a shell…
Yesterday heralded much excitement as the new external door was supposed to go in. This was to be followed by plastering, plumbing, a new floor and finally, lights and a bit more carpentry.
The door was cracked – it had to go back, apparently they hadn’t checked it before leaving the warehouse. I won’t name and shame (yet). I’m a benevolent type and I’m giving them a second chance – but there’s only so much that a poor home worker can take.
In the meantime, I’ll be here pretty much all night for the next few weeks – do pop in and say hello, I’ll keep the tea flowing…
