the home office

[arguchik]

i've always (ok, not always, but at least since i was in junior high) dreamed of having this really great home office space. you know, the place conveniently located in your own home, where you can go and work productively, then emerge in the evening feeling like you've been all...productive. my conclusion is: this is a pipe dream for me. working at home makes me feel isolated from and irrelevant to the outside world, like my existence is meaningless (which it is anyway, i guess, in an existential sense, but i might as well enjoy it while i've got it). i work better when i'm out somewhere. the problem in both contexts is that i distract very easily, and that i get sleepy when i'm bored. it doesn't help that my default work ethic was hard wired back when i was punching a clock and working for the man, which i did from the time i was 16 (13 if you count babysitting, which i kinda do) until i was what, 29? even when i was an undergrad, i worked on the side (sometimes 2 or 3 different jobs) to pay for tuition and other stuff, and my attitude toward that work was quite a bit different from my attitude toward school work. while at work, i worked. i was organized, good at developing productive patterns, and i didn't waste time. when i studied, otoh, my approach was haphazard and last minute; i needed the pressure of a deadline or a looming exam to bring me inspiration and insight. it worked, then; it worked fairly well in graduate seminars, too; but it is completely maladaptive to the process of writing a dissertation, which requires the steady, methodical accumulation of ideas and writing. so i need somehow to recreate that "clocked in" experience, only with myself in the role of "the man."

right now my "home office" is inconveniently located in my bedroom, in close proximity to my bed (which isn't all that tempting--i spend virtually no time in bed after i get up in the morning; it just sets a casual, work-unfriendly tone, ya know?) and to my bookshelves, which house my extensive collection of Very Good Books, including a bunch of novels that i have collected but haven't yet read. plus there's all kinds of other distractions at home--laundry, a refrigerator that needs regular purging, toenail polish, a nice sunshiny stoop to sit on, and various little establishments that are ideal for the odd, invented, "essential" errand. the really unfortunate thing about this arrangement is that my desk tends to accumulate a bunch of junk that doesn't belong there and that renders the desk inhospitable to work--i can't stand working in the midst of a bunch of clutter. i can live with it, but i can't work with it. if i could only cordon off the desk and label it "reserved for work."

here's what i'm going to try: 1. leave the house in the morning. i have to teach from 8:30-10:40 every morning for the next 5 weeks, so hopefully this will establish the desired pattern of getting up, getting ready to be out in the world, and leaving the house. 2. when leaving the house, take a backpack that has only dissertation and teaching related materials in it, including my laptop. no novels (unless it falls under the diss-related rubric). no magazines. wi-fi disabled. cell phone powered off. 3. do not piddle away the entire afternoon running pointless little errands; do it at lunchtime or after working. 4. a very good suggestion from glaucon, which might seem intuitive to many of you, but i am a late bloomer when it comes to developing good study and self-motivational skills: keep regular "office hours" every day, at a set time and in a set location. do not schedule a bunch of crap during these hours. if people want to set up meetings or whatever during those times, say "i can't, i have to work." if i have to schedule a dentist or doctor's appointment during those times, that shouldn't be an excuse to take the whole afternoon off.

glaucon said one other thing that is worth repeating (as one repeats a mantra):

"if you show up at the same time and place every day, sooner or later your muse will meet you there."

Comments

[rojonoir.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good plan.

wi-fi disabled

Heh. When I was finishing up my thesis, I wrote a little unix script that when run would disable email and usenet. Unfortunately I also wrote another little script that would re-enable it. And then it turned out the whole excercise of writing both scripts was me trying to avoid working on my thesis. Doh! The thesis buddy idea worked well for a while - until my buddy dropped out. But I did finish up even if it took me a while.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

i'm a member of a small dissertation writing group (we call ourselves a "collective," which i love), and it has been very helpful because everyone is really supportive in a positive-but-serious-and-challenging way. unfortunately, we stopped meeting about 2 weeks before the end of last quarter because we were all super busy, and haven't started up again for summer yet. we're starting soon, though.

[glaucon.livejournal.com]

I wrote a little unix script that when run would disable email and usenet. Unfortunately I also wrote another little script that would re-enable it. And then it turned out the whole excercise of writing both scripts was me trying to avoid working

holy shit!
I've done that too!

[rojonoir.livejournal.com]

heh. :)

[jennaxide.livejournal.com]

"If you show up at the same time and place every day, sooner or later your muse will meet you there."

Love it. Love it love it love it.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

he's a good egg, that one...

[glaucon.livejournal.com]

it's not my line though.
I got it from bcstillman and I think he was quoting hemmingway.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

that's ok. you propagated it, and that counts for something. (if it's hemingway, might it be from a moveable feast?)