Working from home can afford us a lot of much-needed flexibility in our lives. There are few things that can erode the human spirit like an unfulfilling job or a toxic workplace. In the traditional American job, the average worker mindlessly clocks in 40 hours every week in exchange for some peace and quiet at the end of each day, a comfortable living. Life would certainly be better without this type of soul-sucking job, so naturally working from home must be the answer.
Arguably, it can be and has been for millions of people. But it begs the question: Is life always better working from home, and what are the trade-offs?
Years ago, I had someone trying to convince me to sell legal services, telling me how he really enjoyed having the freedom to work from home. He texted me saying, "For example, right now I'm at home playing with my daughter."
All I could think was, "So, why are you talking to me? You should be there with your daughter."
If anything, the time with family probably isn't high quality if work is always within reach, and the work itself is most likely subpar of there are constant distractions present. Especially if they are positive distractions. Sometimes a physical separation is a good thing. It creates a natural boundary that allows us to be fully immersed in whatever we are doing, whether that be work or relaxation or family time. Our mentality changes gear in relation to our environment. There's a reason people say not to work from the bedroom; that space needs to be reserved for rest.
The potential downsides don't mean that work-from-home jobs are somehow a bad idea. Everyone should have at least one or two streams of income that can be done from home or another remote location. If your income is derived from one external source, much of the control of your life is dependent upon someone else. The more people take responsibility for building their own income streams, the more leverage and potential freedom they'll have in life. Yet, if working from home doesn't include structure and certain self-imposed boundaries, this "freedom" could feel more like a career that has infiltrated every aspect of life. People need time away from work. A family unit can only prosper with a healthy balance of responsibilities: work, relationships, and health. If you work too much, your health and relationships suffer. If you don't work enough, you won't be able to adequately provide for yourself and your family.
Over the past 20 years, with the advent of internet businesses, we've seen countless ads romanticizing the idea of people "living the dream" while working from home. The most recent iteration of this idea is the ever-growing "digital nomad" trend. While there are undeniably attractive potential benefits, there lies a harsher reality below the surface. Many of us in this boat are chronically isolated, underproductive, self-consumed, or financially unstable. The initial freedoms have slowly become entangled in our own pitfalls. Sometimes we need deadlines, structure, and accountability, all things we left behind at our old careers. The focus must change from the dazzling expectations of an "easier life" to a self-disciplined, often more difficult and fulfilling one. Keeping first principles and values at the core of what we pursue, instead of simply chasing every new online marketing tactic, repeating the same mistakes as every faceless corporation we were dying to escape in the first place.
Is this balance possible to achieve? It seems so. It will look different for each person, but that is half the point: to define success for yourself and to pave your own way there. When working from home is accompanied with the necessary shift in mentality and work ethic, it could become a beautiful thing. People might start to work on their own dreams again; they might start to author their own lives in the way our ancestors did. Life can be balanced and stable, without sacrificing meaning and spontaneity. It's the moment where working from home is anything but overrated, because it is both genuine and productive. This is the central reason why working for yourself and partnering with others is, for me personally, the only way to live.
What are your favourite work-from-home jobs and/or streams of income?