What’s Your Work Environment Like?
Posted by Samar | Posted in Freelancing | Posted on 04-03-2009
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Freelancing is a lonely business. You work alone, probably eat alone, and on a typical day, you clear your throat before answering your phone. If you’ve just started out, it’s possible that you’re working in your kitchen perched on stool or chair. No matter where you work, in your home office, in your bed or your kitchen, we all get accustomed and dependant to a few factors that make up our work environment.
Sounds – or Lack Thereof
There are those of us who enjoy working in silence, then there are those who can’t work without some music playing. A lot of web worker play music while working. It’s our companion of choice and head phones are as important to us as our printer. For the silent workers – the headphones are for VOIP.
Background Noises
Background noise doesn’t register until it goes missing. The chirping of the birds nesting in the tree outside your window. A fan whirring. The radio playing on low volume. Your neighbour’s lawn being mowed at 10 am. All these sounds are registered but not recognized. Until the birds fly away or you close the window and can’t figure out why it doesn’t sound right anymore or the lawn mower is turned off abruptly
Visuals
When you’re starting your work day, you only have eyes for your work space. There are all kinds of freelancers. The neat freaks, the unorganised and those who call their mess organized chaos. Whichever category you fall into, things around the place you work have to be the way you’re used to before you can focus on your work.
If you’re a neat freak, cluttered stationary would distract you. Messy? The table which you, in a moment of madness cleared out, would irritate you. Believer of organized chaos? God help you if you actually put something in its rightful place!
Space
We boast of having the ability to work from anywhere as long as we have a laptop and Internet. The truth however is that we’re happier working in our own space and place. One that we call our own even if it’s just our bed, sofa or kitchen table. It is ‘ours’. We know ever nook and cranny of it. We’re comfortable in it. We can conquer the world from it.
So I’m curious. What is your workplace like and how would describe them in terms of sounds, background noises, visuals and space?
Me? I don’t have a formal workplace. It’s coming in next week – I finally placed an order today [pumps fist up in the air].
Photo Credit: ishane
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