Working from home would have been a joke for many of us just over a year ago, but thanks to the ongoing pandemic it has become our daily reality. This has proved to be challenging for many people but a select few such as myself have embraced it with wide open arms. Now, one may ask why some people who work in the same environment and possibly office can have such different attitudes towards working from home, this is most likely due to different personality traits.
Most people have heard of introverts and extroverts, but what most people don’t know is that most people are both introverted and extroverted at different times and possibly in different places. For example, that quiet guy or girl in your office may be the life of the party once he leaves the office. An individual such as this may like to work from home where he can be himself. Of course, there are definitive downsides to working from home for anyone, these usually arise as a result of the strain on communication between team members, from my experience this can be mitigated by talking to your team members and leader, especially if you enjoy their company. Working from home can also help you to self-reflect and get to know yourself better, these self-reflections can then be used to improve yourself and function better And if you were worried that you do not have time to work on yourself, remember that the commute to office is only a few seconds now. Since we, as PR professionals need to perfect the art of communication before we try to teach others about it, this is more than just a trait we need to master in order to effectively work from home, it is the very foundation of our business practices.
While most people need the engagement with co-workers in order to feel alive, the constant interactions can take a toll on even the most outgoing of people. This is why some people enjoy washroom breaks where they are all alone, because even though humans by nature are very social beings, they too need time to wind down and relax, same as a car which is made to run, needs time to cool down or else risk damaging the engine and internals. This is the same for both people who are more introverted and people who are more extroverted. Instead of waiting for the next time that we can go out, we can all make use of this time to accomplish things we could not before and may not be able to again, it can be little things like spending time with loved ones, paying attention to pets or even catching up on some much needed sleep, to bigger things like learning how to code or paint your house. No matter what it is we all need some sort of direction or goal in order to fill the void of not having constant social interactions with real life people.
What is evident from the above is that working from home, is like fire, we just need to handle it right and control it. And like fire has the power to create or destroy entire civilizations, working from home can lead to wonders, the likes of which we could not have grasped before. It is of paramount importance that we use this time at home wisely so that when we do go back to work, we can function better than before.
