10 Things I Feel Guilty about Working from Home
Working remotely, especially leading remotely, often means working from a home office. It allows you to set up the perfect workspace for yourself, honing in on whatever makes you most productive. The hardware and furniture you choose, the background noise you create, the smells you enlist to focus and get things done - they are so much easier to access within a space you fully control. And you don’t even have to commute to get there.
And yet, you won’t always live up to your own standards. Even, or especially, at home, where no-one raises an eyebrow at those unwashed coffee mugs on your desk. For me, it comes in waves - but these are my “favourite” things to feel guilty about when working from home:
Leaving the laundry in the washing machine until I have to wash it again, because it smells “wet”. How come I never had the time to hang everything?
Looking at my Fitbit and seeing a meager 3852 steps when it’s already 10pm.
Three used coffee mugs on my desk.
The now-empty Ben&Jerry’s ice cream box I had planned to share with a friend after dinner.
Needing a cleaning lady even though “I am home all day”
Apologizing for the cleaning lady whenever the topic comes up with friends.
Disappearing behind my laptop to work, when in reality I just need a break from life.
Social media binges.
Forgetting to plan and prep next week’s meals - again.
Not honouring my own rules about the division between work/personal life that I expect my team to follow.
Or maybe I am just feeling guilty about all those household and child-rearing related tasks left for another day, because I am a woman.
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