Ben Sloot

With the 4th of July Federal holiday observed on Friday, I needed to knock out a couple things at the office this week. This was a rare trip because back March 16th, I grabbed my laptop, shut my office door, and embarked on a telework journey.

Once I arrived to the office building:

• I swore for not bringing any snacks
• I picked up, put down, picked up my mouse
• I adjusted and readjusted my monitor
• I removed my dress shoes I keep and change in to at the office, reverse Mr. Rodgers style

I realized I’m less comfortable at the office than at home.

Transition

When we bought our house, I imagined a permanent office with an oak executive desk, hardwood floors, 8 foot mahogany bookcases filled with… you guessed it, books. I claimed a west facing room with great afternoon sunlight and hardwood floors as we moved in.

A month later, my wife decided my claimed officer fit better as a guest room as it sat adjacent to the bathroom.

I moved upstairs. I sacrificed for our ‘guests’ and accepted carpeted floors and a less square. 48 hours later, my wife, having given it some thought, informed me that my new office would be the nursery, and I might as well not get comfortable.

She relegated me to the basement. Luckily the previous owners of the house finished the majority of the basement and my new windowless office looked more like a nondescript tiny bedroom than the boiler room on the other side of the door.

I set up a folding chair and a folding table in the middle of the room and pushed my old couch against the wall for a thinking spot.

2 years later, I’d neglected to upgrade anything in my basement office. COVID 19 hit and it became my permanent work from home headquarters.

Equipment

A couple months later, and I’ve still got my folding table desk, but I first upgraded to a big monitor to give my digital workflow a bit more elbow room. I added a USB-C docking station for my laptop and connected a cheap keyboard and mouse.

I constantly wear a pair of Bose On-Ear headphones gifted from my in-laws two years ago. They quiet the house noise via podcasts, Spotify, and teleconferences.

How many times can I mention my back on this blog? Well to help ease some pain, I needed to switch from my folding chair to a fully adjustable office chair. Sweet, sweet relief.

Just this past week I purchased a new Logitech MX Keyboard and Mouse combo, which lets me switch between my work computer and personal computer. Now I can capture Dad Blog thoughts and switch back.

Back at the Office

So I’ve improved several things in my basement office, not to mention a whole blog post worth of tweaks to software, methods of communication, and daily work-flow.

11 weeks working from home, I’ve arrived at the point I’m both more comfortable at home, but also more productive in the telework nest I built for myself.

I can describe my basement workspace as austere, but as I sat at my former office, I noticed a lot of shit I don’t need. Two filing cabinets? A wireless printer that can’t be hooked up to the network? 10,000 business cards. When it comes time to reoccupy, I’ll need to be as deliberate with my surroundings as I’ve been at home.

Key Differences

At my office building:

• no stocked fridge (thanks wifey)
• no 24/7 slippers (thanks Ugg)
• no Charlie (uh… thanks Chuck)

Don’t get me wrong, home holds a lot of distractions, but I save time driving to and from work. I can sneak in some late night time crushing emails as the baby sleeps.

The best difference between working from home and working from work?

Charlie changes every minute of every day, and working from home gives me more opportunity to witness my daughter growing.