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Comment by NesquikMike | Hacker News Reader

Hi, I'm the author. I'm a Data Scientist and I spend most of my time doing data analysis in Jupyter Notebooks or coding up ML algorithms.

For me I find it helpful being in an office as at home by myself it's way too easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole of YouTube or the Productivity Porn on Hacker News. For me it helps feeling like I'm part of a team and I don't want to let my team down.

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Isn’t it broad strokes to paint office work as “better” when a lack of discipline is the problem and not where the work is performed (this is only an observation, please don’t take it as anything other than constructive criticism)? Accountability and the ability to push through the emotions around procrastination are not necessarily location dependent.

I’m sure, for some cohorts, they must be in the office to deliver. For many others, this is simply not the case.

It's hard to tell, but from what I've seen the people who have trouble setting boundaries when working from home are the same people who would consistently put in extra hours in the office, answer email at 11pm, etc.

I feel really irritated when I see them blaming a flexible work environment for the same problem they had before, and asking for the entire workforce to be subject to restrictive conditions so they can have an ineffective incentive to stand up for themselves.

Boundaries can be challenging because the person who has the least to lose wins. If you have imposter syndrome, need the job financially, etc you’re less likely to enforce healthy boundaries to prevent termination. With that said, there are definitely folks who embrace office theater that you mention in your first paragraph. It takes some work to suss out if the toxicity is the org or the person.

Sounds like you have poor self-control. I've been working from home for 6-years and never once had this problem.

There are many ways to form productive habits at home; for example, remote conference rooms that people can jump in and out of. Slack even has "huddles" now which are very useful for remote work.

Letting your team down has nothing to do with being a seat-warmer in the office.

>> For me I find it helpful being in an office as at home by myself it's way too easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole of YouTube or the Productivity Porn on Hacker News. For me it helps feeling like I'm part of a team and I don't want to let my team down.

> Sounds like you have poor self-control. I've been working from home for 6-years and never once had this problem.

Sounds like you have a bad attitude. It's not a good to respond to someone who shares their personal experience with a drive-by judgement that they must be the problem because you think it works for you.

That is an interesting view, team people and non team people are very different it seems. I'm non team and can easily manage my own work day, it's less common it seems, at least thats what I'm told. People are so very different in what they are comfortable with and I really like the variability that is becoming common.

Genuine question - do you enjoy what you do? Because the only difference there is social judgement in the office if you were to be slacking - if you need to be pressured into doing your work, are you in the right field?

And that's fine. If that works better for you, brilliant.

But you seem to be assuming that what is better for you must also be better for everyone else, and that's not necessarily the case.

Sounds like you’re just a young(er) person who’s looking for social life at work.

Most people can still go into an office if that's what they want to do.

What's not reasonable in general is to expect others to come into the office to motivate you/socialize with/etc. if they don't have to.

In general, it's reasonable to expect to have some non-home place to work at (whether a conventional office or coworking space). What's not as reasonable is to expect a before-times office where everyone comes in every day.

(Don't worry about the hate Mike, that type of tone doesn't belong here.)

Some people have trouble working from home and need a bit of social pressure to get things going. I personally prefer cafes or coworking spaces over a mandatory office, but that's me. I have faith that people will find what works for them and gravitate towards the opportunities that work well with their skills and personality.

If you find it better to work in an office, great.

But telling me that my preferred way of working is "not best" for my mental well being is just annoying. Or telling me that I actually must not like WFH, and I just am not conscious of it or haven't acknowledged it yet is just... No.

I think I am uniquely qualified to judge what is or is not good for my own mental well being, my own productivity, etc.

If you focus on and achieve outcomes, you won't "let your team down".

It is very much possible to waste time at work, get involved with various "initiatives", create all the right noises, and be seen as one of the team while not actually contributing to anything productive.

I think you could use a little advice from Self Help Singh.

https://www.tiktok.com/@masood_boomgaard/video/7097513012117...

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