The Joy of Working at Home

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: 
www.ancient.eu/Horace/

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:  
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6zJkHcjbWc


E over & out
x


Classics and Ancient History PhD student at the University of Liverpool, working on Lucan, Necromancy, and Civil War. Generously funded by the AHRC NWCDTP. Also enjoys music, polo, and gin. For more information, head here: www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/current-students/student-profiles/elaine-sanderson/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts!

Image

Learning to Love…Ovid!

 In light of yesterday’s Grand National, I thought I’d turn to a Latin poet whom I have recently come to appreciate.   I first encountered Ovid at around the age of fourteen, when I was handed his guide to picking up women at the racecourse, taken from his work Amores, as a translation exercise.   I was slightly alarmed to be presented with a text which advocated spying on women as they watched the horses go round the track, and sneakily groping people amongst the crowded stands, and so pigeonholed Ovid as a rather immature, trivial and tedious poet.   It’s safe to say, we got off on the wrong foot. Photo by Greg Roberts. Grand National day 2014.  I wonder how many race goers took Ovid's advice to heart... I ran into Ovid again at AS level, with Book VIII of his epic poem, The Metamorphoses being assigned as a set text.   Once again, I was far from overwhelmed.   Reading his portrayal of the various exploits of Scylla and Daedalus, I felt...
Image

The Importance of Going Outside

Ever since I was a secondary school student revising for my GCSE exams, I have been reminded time and again by well-meaning people of the importance of taking regular breaks when working.  Carefully scheduled 5/10 minutes here and there to break up the monotony of sitting at a desk, staring at books/screens and scribbling notes.  As a PhD student, I thought I was doing pretty well with this.  I often get up to make warm drinks in the kitchen next door or walk a few meters down the hallway to collect documents from the printer.   And yet, I kept finding myself angsty and frustrated, at times even a little claustrophobic, as I sat at my desk, working away on a project I continue to find exciting and stimulating.  Right now, I'm not at my most stressed. I'm not chasing nine different people trying to tie ends up for a conference, I'm not simultaneously working on four completely different assessments, and though my mental health has been iffy as of late (chee...
Image

Summer of Classics 2015: Sicily and the Valle dei Templi

Every year, the Exeter University Classics Society organise one of the highlights of their calendar: a trip abroad to visit various ancient sites.  A wonderful post-exams treat, these trips allow students to visit sites and see artefacts studied as part of their courses, develop and broaden their perspectives on the Classical World, and catch up with friends after weeks of isolation in the library.  This year's trip to Sicily was a lovely way to round off the final year of my undergraduate studies, and mark the end of my Classics Society presidency.  Organising and managing students can be challenging at the best of times (trust me, it's like trying to herd fish!), so when you throw in flight bookings, risk assessments, and passports, everything becomes that bit more complicated.  Eventually, our adventure got underway, thanks to the hard work and limitless patience of some very dedicated committee members.  We embarked upon a glorious Sicilian adventure, trave...