Guest Post: Short Attention Spans & Working From Home
by Marijke Vroomen-Durning, RN
I love working from home. Oddly, unlike many others who dream of working from home, it was never a dream of mine; I’m a nurse – how the heck can a nurse work from home? But – life has a way of changing directions and this nurse became a telecommuting medical editor and then a freelancing self-employed writer. Who would have thought?
I can tell you who wouldn’t have thought – the people around me who know I have the attention span of a gnat. That is if a gnat even has an attention span. Who knows?
For one of my editing jobs, I did go in to an office a few days a week; but sitting at my desk was really, really hard. I can’t sit still and I never could. I’m sure I drove my coworkers nutty. So, working from home is perfect because I can bounce up and down from my desk as often as I want without disturbing anyone – unless you count my greyhound, Dee, who feels duty-bound to follow me where ever I go. I almost feel badly for her because when I sit down, she gets all comfortable, only to have me pop up again minutes later. I may just be running to the kitchen for something, so I tell her, “don’t move, I’m coming right back.” But she gives me this look as if to say, “yeah, right, I know you. You’ll get lost between the kitchen and here and before I know it, you’ll be upstairs reading the newspaper.” So she follows me to keep me in line.
Seriously, working at home when your attention span is lacking does have its drawbacks. When you work for yourself, you have to seek out clients for work, you have to sell yourself and prove that you can do the work. Once you’ve gotten the work, you have to follow through and give the client what he or she wants. But that’s not all – you have to follow up for payment and then see if there can or will be more work for you. You, and you alone, are responsible for making sure there’s ink in your printer and that you don’t run out of paper just when you have to print out that important document. You don’t have an IT guy or gal to help you if your computer goes on an unauthorized vacation with all your documents – and you don’t have someone else to run to just to sit and talk to when your work gets a bit too much for you. All this has to be done and, short attention span or not, I have to do it.
Although I have deadlines, I don’t have anyone watching me making sure that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing when I do it. I don’t have a boss who can walk by and see me playing Scrabble on the computer or browsing my favorite sites. Of course, that’s also part of the reason why you will often find me working at the kitchen table at midnight. Truth be told though, for some reason, I can focus better in the middle of the night. I wish I knew why.
Luckily, my odd working habits don’t interfere with getting the job done. I work better when I have multiple browser windows open so I can check in on different conversations, or I may chat with friends on MSN. I work a bit, then play a bit – then I go back to working again. I would probably drive the most relaxed efficiency expert crazy, but it works for me. I’m a good writer and I’ve got some wonderful clients with some incredibly fascinating projects. I love what I do so much that I can no longer imagine not doing it. I just do it differently than some other people.
Would life be easier for me if I had a better attention span? In some ways, yes, probably. But, would I be me then?
Marijke Vroomen-Durning RN, is a b5media blogger, nurse, and medical writer/editor from Canada. Visit her at Help My Hurt, Nurse Turned Writer, and MedHealth Writer.
(photo via SXC.hu)
Tags: women in business, marijke vroomen-durning, working from home, self-employed, staying focused at work, being your own boss, tips for entrepreneurs, advice for people who work from their home, running your own business, biz chicks rule, kristen king
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POSTED IN: Guest Post, Self-Employment & Entrepreneurship, Work-At-Home Moms, Writing & Blogging
2 opinions for Guest Post: Short Attention Spans & Working From Home
Alicia Sparks, NAMI Affiliation Leader
Feb 28, 2008 at 12:16 am
Ah, this sounds so much like me! Though, there are definitely days when I am not nearly as successful as you in getting back to business!
Marijke
Feb 28, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Thanks for inviting me to participate. I think that sometimes people with my type of personality are afraid to work for themselves or working from home because we are so unpredictable - but it can work. So as long as you’re willing to take some of the stress of trying to catch up (as I should be now but I’ve been too distracted by Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice), you can make it.
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