All Alone?

Another question people often ask me about werking from home is this: Don't you get lonely? I think some might have an image of me curled up on the couch in my empty house, waiting for the ticker on my inbox to show me I have an email to take care of. Werking from home, for me, is not that!

Here's my typical day lately (if I happen to be at home, and not travelling for werk):

• Wake up, grab coffee, take care of emails that came in since I last signed on yesterday. 
• Prep for morning meetings. I typically have anywhere from 3-5 meetings a day, so I am interacting with at least 10-20 people a day over conference calls.
• Respond to action items gathered in those meetings through...wait for it...more meetings, or emails, or one-on-one phone calls. Or instant messages, or text messages, or even posts on our company's social network site. 
• Grab lunch while prepping for afternoon meetings/tasks.
• Write blog post if there is something to write about. 
• Engage in afternoon meetings/emails/tasks/etc. My work involves a lot of time connecting with ad agencies or consultants who are executing projects for me, and providing them with feedback or more direction. It also involves a lot of time connecting with co-werkers who know more than I do about lots of things, and taking what I learn from them and putting it into my projects. Werk is often a constant feedback loop. 
• Shut down and walk away from the computer...get dinner started in that magical time before I get a hunger headaches and right after I am sure I won't get caught on an impromptu conference call while chopping onions. 

A lot goes on during the day, and I have probably left a lot out without even realizing it. But the.homewerker is rarely lonely, and it's nice to have existing relationships with colleagues who don't mind random phone calls from me instead of random 'drive-by-meetings' in their cube. It's also wonderful to live close enough to the.land.of.cubicles that I can drive down for face to face time on a regular basis and maintain an actual, person to person relationship with folks.

I am all about werking from home and think more people should do it if they can, but I also know that spending time physically present with people can werk wonders! It's a balance, but just because I'm werking from home, doesn't mean I'm lonely. I probably just need to get out of the house more than most people!