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Comment by myalphabet | Hacker News Reader

>Most of the benefit to me is the lack of routine.

Wow, this is literally the exact reason I loathe remote working! I've been working remotely for almost 5 years now and I'm about to jump ship at my current job specifically so I can find a job that has a physical office to go to. I find that the lack of a routine causes a significant increase in stress in my life. It's an actual dream of mine to go back to a 'normal' job where I go into an office and sit at a normal desk with a normal work schedule, and then can just go home or to the gym at 6pm and enjoy my non-work life.

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Personally, I find having a space dedicated to work helps tremendously with this. When I am in my "office" at home, I am working. When I leave the office, I am not working.

Having that separation helps me "leave work" when it is technically at the same location. It does also require a good bit of discipline because it is easy to slip back into work at any point in the day.

Many argue that you should "work when you feel like it" but I personally find that leads to burn out. If I can keep a regiment that I don't deviate much/at all from, I am mentally healthier.

> work when you feel like it == burnout city

yes because most of us don't know how to turn that off!

Mental health must become a priority when working remote. Separation is a key way to stay ahead of the degradation. Even if you're not a person who tends to go outside, you HAVE TO when you work remote. Lack of face to face interaction will eat you very slowly over the years.

It can't just be with your usual people either. You need to have a level of unexpected interactions with other humans to stay a happy person. I'm not a psychologist, but I've had this happen to me and any other colleague I know who worked remote. It's a very real thing – respect it.

My experience is that a work laptop is enough.

All the work code, emails, tickets etc. are on it and once it's closed for the day I it needs to fired up again to do any additional work, which surprisingly serves enough as a barrier.

I have a third option, work time. I have specific, inviolable times when I get on and off work. Past 8, I am off work and all work-related notifications shut off automatically. I've found this helps perfectly isolate work from life.

Working whenever you feel like it is hell, I agree.

That’s how I currently work too. It helps that the company has to follow strict compliance rules, so the work equipment is strictly for work.

> Wow, this is literally the exact reason I loathe remote working!

I've been remote working for years and I now find that my most productive times are "in-the-zone bursts" of work. What used to take a whole day I can now get done in a couple of hours.

So, now I find less of an imperative to keep a structure. My new rule is to just be very vigilant about when my brain wants to do the work... and when I get the feeling jump right in.

It's weird but it seems to work well in my case!

I have been working remotely for the past 4 years and every day has been routine. Walk into my my home office at 8, work until 12, take an hour lunch and work until 5. For the first couple of years I had issues with overworking myself not being sure of my productivity, but after setting hard limits to never stay in my office after 5 and to stop worrying about my productivity my stress levels normalized and nobody reported negatively on my productivity. It was all in my head.

My experience working remotely is almost the same as working in an office. My only added benefits are a lack of commute and job opportunities that aren't available to me in the small remote town I'm in. If it wasn't for remote work I wouldn't even be a software developer. This allows me to be a software developer and raise my kids in the same town as their grandparents. In fact living in the same town I was raised in may aid in the social isolation a lot of people feel. I could see working remotely in a town you have no/small amount of friends being very isolating.

I’m the exact opposite. My general perspective on life is to be able to do what I want, when I want to do it and remote work with a flexible schedule enables me to do that. I absolutely hate being told I have to sit at a desk and be somewhere between some prespecified hours.

I work remotely and have a very consistent schedule / routine. I have a family so that helps in terms of company in the house reminding me to leave the office.

When I leave my office (a dedicated space), I'm done for the day, but that's also due to the culture at my workplace. It's possible to have both, is all I'm saying. Remote doesn't mean no routine.

More power to you! Everyone should find his own preferences and strengths and lean into them, imo.

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