Coronavirus crisis has Phil Brown “working from home”

Ordinarily, I go to work to get away from the distractions then head home to relax. Now that’s all getting mixed up, writes columnist Phil Brown.

So here we all are working from home.

I’ve never been that great a believer in “working from home”. When I use the term in the office I make air quotations like Austin Powers.

I’ve always been suspicious of the idea because when I’m “working from home” I tend to find distractions.

I go to work to get away from the distractions. When you go to a place of work there really shouldn’t be anything else to do there but work. Years ago I read a great book by American author Larry Winget – It’s Called Work for A Reason!.

Because you go there to work, right?

You go home to relax.

Now that’s all getting mixed up as many of us migrate to working remotely to ride out the current crisis.

I hope to be mixing working from home with some office pop-ins to get my mail and use the photocopier and stuff like that. Luckily my home office is relatively comfy and it has been used before. Hell, I recently wrote a book in it so I CAN work at home.

Still, it’s not easy.

So what was my first day of working from home like?

Well it was like this: I got up and did the usual stuff including shaving even though I didn’t need to. But I wanted things to be as normal as possible. I didn’t get as dressed up as I might but I didn’t get underdressed either. I mean I could have damn well stayed in my pyjamas I suppose but that would be letting myself go.

So after shaving, brushing my teeth and applying the hair treatment I am using in an attempt to stave off the inevitable, I probably should have gone down to my office to start work, but I didn’t.

I had to drop my wife to the train station. Then I had to go and have a coffee, of course. That’s compulsory. Then I went to the local market to visit the butcher and the deli, and I popped into a convenience store across the road to get some tissues and, blow me down, they were stocking loo paper so I bought some. It’s amazing how chuffed I was with myself over that. Sad, isn’t it?

Then I went home and made some tea and went over some paperwork and made a few calls and looked at my watch thinking: “I should start work about now”.

Brisbane News columnist Phil Brown. Photo AAP/ Ric Frearson

But I did a bit of sweeping and went out and topped up the pool with the hose since it was getting low. I said hello to the dog and brushed my hair and looked at my watch again. Eventually, unable to shirk work any longer, I went and turned on the computer, set the radio to ABC Classic FM and I was on my way.

Did I put in a full day?

I could say yes but the fact is, no-one will ever really know.