Work from home

I never had a problem commuting to work. It was okay because I had time to listen podcasts or new music.

One day I started thinking about the time I spend commuting to work and back home.I was actually shocked when I realized how much time I spend only to go to work.

Every workday, I commuted:

• 20 minutes by car
  • The distance from home to the train station.
• 1 hours by train
• 12 minutes by feet
  • The distance from the train station to the workplace.

… and the same back home.

That’s in sum around 3 hours, every day. Extrapolated with 220 working days I commuted around 30.000 km (18.600 miles) or wasted 28 days. TWENTY EIGHT DAYS! A whole month commute to work and back home, and the worst part is, I did the same the years before, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015.

Work from home

I decided to change this in 2020 and started a new job. I work from home now, and after the first few months, I can say it was the right decision. Not only because I can sit at my desktop with just a jogger :).

Benefits

I changed some bad habits.

• I go running 3 - 4 times a week now, because I have just more time to do this.
• I eat cleaner because I have more time to cook.
• I have time to eat breakfast.
• I read more books since I work from home. For example:
  • 1984 by George Orwell.
  • The old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway.
  • I downloaded a lot of Sherlock Holmes books on my Kindle.
• … and much more.

Desktop

I build my own desktop with two big wooden boards from the hardware store.The desktop is 220x100 cm, that’s more than enough for my needs. I varnished the wooden boards with black lacquer.

I know, I should eliminate the cord clutter.

Chair

I wanted the MARKUS swivel chair from Ikea, but it was sold out.So I bought a similar chair from Amazon.

Hardware

Thinkpad X1 Carbon with Docking Station, external 27” Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse. That’s it.

Interesting Links

• This post was inspired by a similar post from Armin Ronacher on Armin Ronacher’s Thoughts and Writings.
• A nice thread on Twitter.
• Workspace Wednesday: Show off your computer and desk setups! on dev.to.

Comments

[Raphael Habereder]

I absolutely understand your feeling and applaud you for enduring it for years.
For better or worse, I do hope that the pandemic will enable remote work to become "normal". So we all can benefit from having more time and get a little bit more out of our lives.

Also, congrats on on improving your bad habits! It takes a lot to change your eating or exercise habits for the better!
Enjoy it, you definitely earned it! :)

[manuel]

Thank you Raphael :)