It is a herculean task to get anything done from home for a freelancer. I came to this conclusion after I tried to work from home. I wanted to spend time with family as well. I hate to admit it, but I was so wrong.
Not only was it impossible to get any work done, but I could barely come up with ideas. I was constantly yelling at the kids to keep their voices down as I struggled to conjure up my thoughts after reading the brief.
All I managed was jotting down three to four points for the given assignment. I went to bed thinking I would wake up early and start afresh the next day.
I had originally planned to start the day at six but then had to reschedule it to eight o’clock, since the kids left for school.
After bidding them goodbye, I was relieved that I had the whole day to do my work.
As I switched on my computer, the doorbell rang. It was the milkman. I put the milk to boil, indulged in a cup of hot tea, and returned to my desk.
Time flew, and it was nine o'clock.
I opened up Microsoft Word to write, and the doorbell rang once again. This time it was the newspaper guy. I realized I hadn't read the newspaper since I started going to the office.
The only news I read was on the Internet, and frankly speaking, it never matched up to the news one reads in a newspaper.
He presented me with a bill that was long overdue, which meant I had to pay. After dispensing with the records and payment, I looked at the newspaper and inadvertently began to read.
The newspaper had brought the news from all over the world to the forefront of my attention.
The difference between the news on the Internet and the written word is, its air of exclusivity.It is a personal connection with not only the information but also with another individual. When you read to yourself it is as if the author is writing for you and to you. His or her work takes on a voice of its own and engages you in a way that cannot be expressed on a webpage .
Our technological world today gives us far too much information. Yet I find it difficult to retrieve and recollect later.
We are constantly bombarded with information every second of the day, but our brains don't really get the necessary downtime to process everything new. Ultimately, it leads to short-term memory and confusion that goes unnoticed in the constant stream of information, making learning incredibly difficult for some.
Nine o’clock had rolled by to ten with Microsoft Word staring at me from the desktop. I had not even begun.
Without wasting any more time on elusive thoughts, I started to write. My deadline was four o'clock.
Midway, the sound of an alert came from my phone. It was a Facebook alert for a friend's birthday.
I just had to wish her well lest I forget later in the day. On opening up Facebook, I saw five more notifications and two reminders. I had no choice but to answer.
Courtesy says that I should communicate with my readers and answer their queries promptly. So I did precisely that.
I wound up on Facebook and looked at my desktop. It was eleven o'clock. I hadn't even started my first assignment.
The desktop showed 2 notifications in my inbox, 3 on my WordPress, and 6 on Hotmail.
I was tempted to open them up. I decided not to till I finished the assignment. Work has always been my priority. All these chores came later.
I began on a serious note but could not concentrate. I wondered about the notifications. For all I know, it was an assignment I was pitching for.
Perhaps it was a meeting lined up for one of my clients.
The urge to satiate my curiosity took over. Surely, it would not take more than a few minutes. I could start my assignment straight after that.
The cook came in. 'What should I make for lunch?' he asked. I told him this was not to ask me. He seemed offended. 'It's one 'o'clock, and the children will be here at two.'
I looked at the watch. It was one 'o'clock. Five hours since I got out of bed.
What had I done for the last five hours? Absolutely nothing. I had browsed different web pages, sent a few text messages, and read some emails. It was essentially nothing because out of all that, I didn't remember a single piece of productive work.
Five hours had gone by in the blink of an eye, and I had nothing to show for it. It was at that moment that I realized that technology is having a less-than-beneficial effect on my life.
There must be so many people out there who must be experiencing that.
Advancement in technology is great, but when hours just vanish into a computer screen, and we have nothing to show for it, it's not that great.
As for me, I decided never to do any work from home after that. Sit in a library, park, or anywhere else, but keep your technological gadgets away if you really want to write and complete your assignments in time.
When you’re working as a freelancer, you might think you have all the free time in the world to do whatever you want, whenever you want. A freelancer's job may look easy on the outside, but it is far from that.
I had often expressed my wish of turning into a freelancer who worked from home.
After working from home that day or should I say not working from home that day,
I never tried it again. I realized that day that however easy it may seem on the outside, being a freelancer is not all that easy. It requires discipline, dedication, commitment, and management amidst distraction and chaos.
I would like to say kudos to all the freelancers out there.
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