In 2019 I commuted 3 hours every day, and now I work from home. I never had a problem commuting to work. It was okay because I had time to listen to 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 hour 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.
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.