MidMonth Update

I've been doing my new job for somewhere around a month now. I have yet to receive a paycheck, which is stressful in and of itself.

I've also discovered a couple truths about myself:

1. As tempting as it is to want to work from home, it takes a certain mentality to do it. I've been far more productive than I feared I might be, in part because I've done a good job of convincing myself of the need to continue to turn in work.

2. Working while watching children is not a good combo. There is always a distraction. Either the computer or television is too loud, or the kids are fighting, or they're chasing the dog around the house, or it's quiet (which means they're up to something)...

3. Working from home does not get you away from work at home. From my study, I can see the dishes piling up in the sink, I can hear the washing machine and dryer when they stop running, when I go check up on the kids I see the mess in the living room that needs picking up...

4. There's no transition from "home" to "work" back to "home." One of the things I enjoyed about my commute was that it granted me the ability to mentally shift from "Work Mode" to "Home Mode." With work being literally "in the other room," there's no way to separate yourself from it - particularly when you know you just need to do that little bit more...

I don't mind my job. I do title opinions of properties for Oil and Gas leases. It's rather interesting to see the conveyances from one person to another to another and all the hiccups that turn up in the chain of title. Every property has its own little idiosyncracies that need to be handled, which brings me to my next item of concern - 5. There's nobody "here" to get guidance from. So far, the firm has been quite good about answering my questions. I think today was the first time I asked a question where I was told I would be unable to get the answer until tomorrow, but there's a certain comfort zone to having someone who knows what's going on right down the hall to talk to. Maybe that's for the best then, that I have to try to figure it out on my own, but I prefer to get the reinforcement on my idea rather than try to figure this out through guesswork and hoping that I get a response on the phone.

My current plan is to ride this out for a few months and see if maybe after I get up to full salary (about 1 year), maybe start looking for a similar position in an office environment. I think I am better suited for office work than I am for working from home, but I do need the experience.