To
be honest, I’ve always been a little wary of working from home. I like the routine of heading up to the
office, with ‘home’ reserved for relaxation (or the inevitable late-night panic
writing session) at the end of a long day.
I often worry that working from home, without the social pressure of
being surrounded by others who can see if you are choosing to waste your time
away, could lead to a dangerous loss of productivity and motivation as I
retreat under my duvet to binge-watch shows on Netflix (#phdprocrastination). Today,
however, I found that working from home can have its perks.
We had an appointment for an estate agent to
pop around in the morning, so I set myself up at the dining table with my
laptop, library books, coffee pot, and a scented candle (something I’m not
allowed in the office!). And until the brief interruption from the estate
agent, work went pretty well and I decided that I would stay home for the rest
of the day. I say work in a loose sense…
I started the day being a social media elf for two organisations I work with,
Hoylake Chamber Concert Society (www.chamberconcert.co.uk) and the AHRC’s North West Consortium Doctoral
Training Partnership (www.nwcdtp.ac.uk). BUT, once this was
finished, I was surprised at how quickly and easily I settled down into my more
academic work.
I’d
decided to go back over a paper I’d previously written on the presentation of
Achilles in Horace’s 17th Epode
(a splendid poem, check it out here: bit.ly/2KNETwS) to see what could be done to take
this little side project further. I went
through the version of the paper I’d printed out yesterday afternoon in
anticipation of my morning at home to address the areas I’d highlighted to
expand and/or rework and consulted the collection of additional secondary
reading I’d started compiling to see how best to proceed on each point. I then sketched out a rough skeleton of each
section of the paper to get an idea of how the changes I planned to incorporate
would contribute to its overall shape and development. When writing conference papers, I often (ok,
always) find that my ambitions don’t fit within the word-limit for a 20-minute
paper, and I’m still learning how to formulate manageable ideas which can be
articulated effectively in a paper of this kind. As such, there was a lot of material from the
cutting room floor which I wanted to be able to include in any future
manifestation of this work! I then
realised that I had perhaps gone about this in a bit of an ‘upside down’ way,
starting with my own writing rather than looking over the Latin text in question,
decided that I probably ought to read through the original text again before
going any further, and proceeded to my little balcony for a relaxing reading
session.
 |
| Having the BEST time with Horace! |
While
reading outside in the lovely sunshine, I realised a few things. Firstly, I remembered that this poem (and the rest of the Epodes, for that matter) is really exciting, and I made a mental
note to fashion another small project around this work in the near future. Secondly, I was reminded of just how much I
enjoy just reading and thinking about Latin texts. Call me crazy or tell me that I don’t get out
enough, I don’t care. Latin is FUN. Thirdly,
I realised that working from home offered me the flexibility to do things very
differently to how I operate in my university office. I was able to work in any spot I fancied,
safe in the knowledge that no one could have gotten there first (the eternal
struggle in the library, even if you just want an empty desk to put down a
heavy book) and any place I chose to work would be quiet and free from distractions
(no Netflix today!).
I
also felt that I didn’t need to adhere to my usual working-day schedule. This isn’t to say that my academic work was
swept under the carpet, but that I felt I could be slightly more laid back
about how I went about my day. When my
back, neck, and shoulders started twinging and complaining about sitting in the
same position for hours on end, I took a break to do a spot of yoga. When I was worried that I was going to feel
sluggish after eating a rather large lunch (Thai coconut soup is unbelievably
more-ish and I have no self-control), I took a walk around my local neighbourhood
in the Liverpool docks and enjoyed the sunny afternoon.
 |
| With all this on my doorstep, it's a miracle I actually got anything done at all... |
Even
though I’ve been working away all day, I feel less stressed than usual and much
more positive about the progress I’ve made in the tasks I set myself this
morning. In some ways, I feel like this was the ‘treat day’ I needed after some
rather anxious weeks. In other ways, I
think perhaps that today has shown that my current attitude towards going in to
the office each day isn’t particularly healthy.
Productivity and achievement doesn’t necessarily have to mean typing
furiously at a desk for 10 hours each day while your eyes get wider and wider
from almost constant caffeine intake. In all honesty, I could probably do most
of the little things (like taking a walk or moving to a different setting,
maybe not the yoga) which helped break up today while at the university. So, I
think I can consider today a success: I’m pleased with the bits of work I’ve
done, I’m actually pretty happy, and I have a good idea of how I can improve my
working practices in future. Overall,
today has been A GOOD DAY. 😀
If
you would like to find out more about Horace (the guy whose poetry I was
looking at today),
you can do so here:
If
you would like to see what I’ve been doing with Horace’s work so far, you can
do so here: bit.ly/2IIsvxd
If
you would like to try the magical yoga session which helped out my creaky back,
you can do so here:
E
over & out
x
Comments
Post a Comment