# Can you work/study at home?



## tar1984 (Oct 7, 2011)

It seems like a great idea in theory, but I can't stop getting distracted and stopping for breaks.  The only way I can get in the zone and put some proper work in is going to the library.  I envy those who can get work done without having to go out.


----------



## mrs quoad (Oct 7, 2011)

I tell myself I can, then spend all day accidentally playing Infinity Blade, lifeline 32 (4th playthrough).

And haranguing the cat.


----------



## smmudge (Oct 7, 2011)

I can't work in the library. There's always someone talking or whispering, or breathing too loud, or eating too loud, or tapping too loudly on their computer or phone, or there's some weird unidentifiable but irritating noise somewhere, and the motion sensitive lights keep switching on and off, and it's too cold, and the chairs are uncomfortable and don't fit the desks. And really I don't need any external distractions to keep me from working, my own mind can drag me away all by itself.

I much prefer working at home, where I can sit comfortably on my sofa in my pyjamas and warm under a blanket, make all the tea I want, eat when I want etc etc TBH I don't do much work in either places


----------



## wayward bob (Oct 7, 2011)

yes i can. although the whiskey can tend to distract me somewhat 

i work best when i'm relaxed, and when i'm at college there's always the risk of running into someone i know  although i'm lucky that my local campus isn't the main one, so i'm less likely to bump into people i know there : phew:

but yeah, i work best in isolation, without comparing my work with others' (always to my detriment). although the kids can kinda put a spanner in the works 

but i don't have to go outside for a smoke at home


----------



## geminisnake (Oct 7, 2011)

Yep, tbh I needed to be at home to study when I was last at college. I couldn't study at the college, it was a horrible building, with crap lighting and built with breeze blocks. Ich!!


----------



## salem (Oct 7, 2011)

Yes, but only if no one else is at home.

I've found that friends/partners will just be too distracting no matter how hard they try not to be (I'm very easily distracted though!)


----------



## heinous seamus (Oct 7, 2011)

I was in the library the other day and there was some mug chatting away on skype 

I seem to do most of my reading on the train and at work.


----------



## Miss Caphat (Oct 7, 2011)

It is easy to get distracted at home. But when I think about the fact that we all did it (homework) as teenagers with our short attention spans, for at least a little while each day (sometimes hours and hours), while juggling school, friends, activities, pesky siblings, chores, teen angst & drama, etc, makes me think most of us have gone soft in our old age and we need to just suck it up like we did back then.
I think it's starting to sink in for me that I need to get things done in a certain amount of time or else I will not be able to go anywhere or do anything fun later. In a sense, I'm kind of acting like my own parent and "grounding" myself.


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Oct 7, 2011)

salem said:


> Yes, but only if no one else is at home.


This...and turn off the phone, it's only scammy cold callers during the day anyway. Don't answer the door either.


----------



## Me76 (Oct 7, 2011)

I can only do it if it's something that's going to take some time and I'll be able to get into. If it's lots of little bits I have no chance.


----------



## softybabe (Oct 7, 2011)

I work from home most days and also study from home.  You have to be very disciplined especially when there are others wanting your attention.  I have put my foot down on many ocassions but it's lovely also to be flexible and admit defeat sometimes especially if boyfriend offers to buy me lunch in the sunshine


----------



## smmudge (Oct 7, 2011)

Me76 said:


> I can only do it if it's something that's going to take some time and I'll be able to get into. If it's lots of little bits I have no chance.



Heh I'm the complete opposite. If there's lots and it seems like it will take ages I'll be reluctant to start. If it seems like lots of little things I'm more likely to do it!


----------



## JimW (Oct 7, 2011)

I've worked from home for years now (translator). I find it a bit tricky to sustain the effort with long deadlines on big projects, but easy on short stuff I can do in a day. Beats the ever-living shit out of having to travel or be in an office.


----------



## toggle (Oct 7, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> It seems like a great idea in theory, but I can't stop getting distracted and stopping for breaks. The only way I can get in the zone and put some proper work in is going to the library. I envy those who can get work done without having to go out.



yep. Most of my work is reading, so I curl up in bed or on the sofa and get on with it. Far more comfy and far fewer distractions than in the library. Anyway, college library is best part of 2 hours away now.

and i tend to need to get up and do something else for a while after about an hour or so, and that's a lot easier at home than at college.


----------



## Bahnhof Strasse (Oct 7, 2011)

No chance. Perhaps if I could have a shed type thing in the garden that could be my office, so that I physically have to _go to work_, other than that, I'm fucking hopeless.


----------



## Treacle Toes (Oct 7, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> It seems like a great idea in theory, but I can't stop getting distracted and stopping for breaks. The only way I can get in the zone and put some proper work in is going to the library. I envy those who can get work done without having to go out.



I am the same...I can only study at home if I have no choice..meaning I am bleaching it to get something done to a close deadline.

I have spent much of the last 3 years in the library because of this. I am so much more productive and focued there. Amazing thing is I also had the same access to the internet etc at the library...I just had more willpower there too!


----------



## equationgirl (Oct 7, 2011)

heinous seamus said:


> I was in the library the other day and there was some mug chatting away on skype
> 
> I seem to do most of my reading on the train and at work.



When I worked in a library, that was a big problem for us. Even when it was pointed out that they were disturbing other people, I used to get abuse or whining questions.= -'But whhhhhyyyyyyyy? It's not fair etc'.

Report skypers to the desk staff - it's inconsiderate and not what a library is for.

Sometimes it takes a while to work out what study method & location works best for you. For me, I always have to have music, so I can block out the outside world and concentrate. Otherwise I'm too easily distracted by anything around me.


----------



## tar1984 (Oct 7, 2011)

Rutita1 said:


> I am so much more productive and focued there. Amazing thing is I also had the same access to the internet etc at the library...I just had more willpower there too!



Yes, exactly.  I can still go on urban in the library, I just tend not to.  At home I can't resist.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Oct 8, 2011)

i hate studying and only ever do it at night in silence at the very last minute of fight/ flight response: ie, 'I AM GOING TO FAIL.' after that my mind becomes photographic for about 6 hours and i do the exam and then i go home and die. that has seen me through every exam in life, but i would say i was on the verge of death perhaps towards my finals cos i stayed up with two hours sleep a night for two weeks reading the same book and 20 pages of notes. I was completely insane afterwards for a month and my friends father asked me could i read a newspaper. I said 'no, i cant read anymore' he said 'you are burnt out.' i rested (well got pissed out of my mind and took a bit of crack too for two months working in a pub) and was fine within around three months. I didnt read a book for two years though. I only read one book between ages 20 and 27 - and that was Martin Amis's 'Experience.' I read loads now.


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 8, 2011)

I don't work very steadily at home but I always manage to get the important stuff done - TBF often at 2am after far too much caffine and spliff.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 8, 2011)

I am more motivated if I go into uni to work, but I'm too lazy to get the 2 buses to get there, never mind having to get dressed first.

So I stay at home and get lost on the internet for hours, and resolve to do better the next day.


----------



## _angel_ (Oct 8, 2011)

I did do, back when I had no kids and there was no internet (at least not for me) to distract me. Not sure how easy I'd find it now.


----------



## 19sixtysix (Oct 8, 2011)

I couldn't study in the university library. Where ever I sat there were too many interesting other books to distract me.


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 8, 2011)

I am right now watching scifi pon the internetz when I ought to be revising.


----------



## Hellsbells (Oct 8, 2011)

hmmm. Depends. Sometimes if i'm around other people who are also studying, it puts me in a studying frame of mind & motivates me to do something. I procrastinate ALOT when i'm at home and often end up scrubbing the kitchen floor or cleaning the toilet instead. Two things that work for me currently are 1) disconnecting the internet (obviously - although not always possible), and 2) working in different rooms in the house or just in different parts of the room. Wierd that one, but i guess if i sit in my usual spot on the living room sofa, I associate it with relaxing after work with the telly on, so i just can't get into study mode.


----------



## Clair De Lune (Oct 8, 2011)

I cant study in college cos there is always someone about who wants to chat. I wrote my first essay locked in my mothers bedroom with two cans of strongbow and about 20 rollies.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Oct 8, 2011)

I get motivated by other people who are working around me. Don't want to look like a lazy twat, you see. So I pretend I'm very intelligent and very motivated in their presence and do lots of work while furrowing my brow and looking intently at the page/screen, possibly muttering high-brow things to myself every now and again, and it seems to work.

But again, there's that small problem of having to get dressed and catch 2 buses to get there.

*switches on xbox*


----------



## smartlistful (Oct 8, 2011)

Definitely i can work and study at home. so peaceful here. no noise. no people around. its only me ALONE. so boring life but atleast no one is  bothering me.


----------



## smmudge (Oct 8, 2011)

I think I actually benefit from having the TV on in the background and the internet on hand. If it's just me and work, nothing else, after a while I'm straining to keep focused and ultimately get very little done. If there's something else that can switch my attention to occasionally, I find it much easier to focus when I need to and end up getting quite a lot done. Probably something to do with the short attention spans of the post-MTV generation.


----------



## _angel_ (Oct 8, 2011)

How does anyone have the concentration necessary to study when they have babies/ young toddlers?
Dara was born during Swarthy's last year and I wouldn't have fancied doing essays and stuff after getting up at night etc.


----------



## wayward bob (Oct 8, 2011)

smmudge said:


> I think I actually benefit from having the TV on in the background and the internet on hand. If it's just me and work, nothing else, after a while I'm straining to keep focused and ultimately get very little done. If there's something else that can switch my attention to occasionally, I find it much easier to focus when I need to and end up getting quite a lot done. Probably something to do with the short attention spans of the post-MTV generation.



i agree with this, along with the fact that i have everything at hand at home, so i can switch between several different tasks - all work-related - rather than having to haul everything around with me. i think it's different doing a practical course rather than one with lots of reading though - i find it nearly impossible to settle to reading at home - i think i must have broken something with all the study i've done over the years


----------



## Mapped (Oct 8, 2011)

heinous seamus said:


> I was in the library the other day and there was some mug chatting away on skype
> 
> I seem to do most of my reading on the train and at work.



I work in a library and get most of my work done at home


----------



## Mrs Magpie (Oct 8, 2011)

Something else I find psychologically helpful is to maintain the same routine at home as I would at work. Don't slob about in a dressing gown (not that I own one) but wear work clothes, start at 8:30am, just as I would at work. Set break at 11am, lunch at one, knock off at 4:30pm.


----------



## ferrelhadley (Oct 8, 2011)

smmudge said:


> I can't work in the library. There's always someone talking or whispering, or breathing too loud, or eating too loud, or tapping too loudly on their computer or phone


I use ear plugs in the libriary. You can pick them up for a quid or two at Boots or Superdrug. I find it much easier to shut down and get on with it at the libriary.


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 9, 2011)

The uni library in MK has little study rooms you can go in, you used to be able to lock them up when you went to lunch etc, but apparently their approach is so laid back that people who weren't students were using them to run 419 scams out of.


----------



## BarbedWire303 (Oct 9, 2011)

tar1984 said:


> It seems like a great idea in theory, but I can't stop getting distracted and stopping for breaks. The only way I can get in the zone and put some proper work in is going to the library. I envy those who can get work done without having to go out.



Complete opposite here; I just can't use libraries. I do all my assignments using online databases. I sometimes take a book or some research papers to Costa though, but I can't write assignments anywhere except at home. Unfortunately, it's impossible to do any of my job at home, so that one's out.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 9, 2011)

I can't work at work.

When I'm at home, I get loads done.


----------



## mrs quoad (Oct 9, 2011)

kabbes said:


> When I'm at home, I get loads done.


Your post has just reminded me to order more coffee, and pester the cat.


----------



## Hellsbells (Oct 9, 2011)

urgh. Currently at home trying to study. So far hav made 3 cups of coffee, cleaned the neighbours dog pooh out of my garden  don't ask), and erm...am now on urban wasting more time.


----------



## Greebo (Oct 9, 2011)

Hellsbells said:


> urgh. Currently at home trying to study. So far hav made 3 cups of coffee, cleaned the neighbours dog pooh out of my garden  don't ask), and erm...am now on urban wasting more time.


You think that's extreme? When VP started his OU stuff (years ago) I warned him at the time that sooner or later he'd be finding anything to do rather than get on with the coursework - he thought it was hilarious that I'd found an urge to do the washing up only 48 hours before a deadline, and swore he wouldn't be that daft....

And then I caught him, scrubbing the textured shower room floor. It wasn't filthy, it didn't urgently need doing, and kneeling to clean it was agony for him. But somehow that was more tempting than wading through the next module.


----------



## Mapped (Oct 9, 2011)

mrs quoad said:


> ......and pester the cat.



I managed to feed my cat his own tail last night. It was fucking weird


----------



## ViolentPanda (Oct 9, 2011)

Greebo said:


> ...And then I caught him, scrubbing the textured shower room floor. It wasn't filthy, it didn't urgently need doing, and kneeling to clean it was agony for him. But somehow that was more tempting than wading through the next module.



Busted!


----------



## equationgirl (Oct 9, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> The uni library in MK has little study rooms you can go in, you used to be able to lock them up when you went to lunch etc, but apparently their approach is so laid back that people who weren't students were using them to run 419 scams out of.



When I worked in a uni library we had lots of noise complaints from people using the study rooms. Upon investigation it turned out two students were having very loud noisy sex in one of them.

The books were very upset by the whole incident


----------



## stuff_it (Oct 9, 2011)

equationgirl said:


> When I worked in a uni library we had lots of noise complaints from people using the study rooms. Upon investigation it turned out two students were having very loud noisy sex in one of them.
> 
> The books were very upset by the whole incident


Fortunately the OU doesn't have those problems that much as it's mainly mature students and staff, even the 419ers were keeping their heads down - they were at it for over a year before they got caught though it put paid to people using the Library who were members of the public....


----------



## equationgirl (Oct 9, 2011)

It's a shame that people other than the 419ers were punished by it


----------



## N_igma (Oct 10, 2011)

It's a good idea on paper but would just bore the living shit out of me. One thing I miss about work when I'm off is the social interaction that you don't get sitting about in the house all day!


----------



## quimcunx (Oct 10, 2011)

Put it this way in the past hour I've read 2.5 pages of this text book.


----------



## N_igma (Oct 10, 2011)

quimcunx said:


> Put it this way in the past hour I've read 2.5 pages of this text book.



That's pretty bad. If I put my mind to something I can focus on it for whatever time I need to.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 10, 2011)

N_igma said:


> It's a good idea on paper but would just bore the living shit out of me. One thing I miss about work when I'm off is the social interaction that you don't get sitting about in the house all day!


Social interaction at work isn't all that.  I'd prefer to be at home, getting social interaction from my wife.


----------



## N_igma (Oct 10, 2011)

kabbes said:


> Social interaction at work isn't all that. I'd prefer to be at home, getting social interaction from my wife.



Social interaction with your wife? You must be mad!


----------



## strung out (Oct 10, 2011)

i can't work at home. to get anything done, it needs to be an all-dayer at the library, no internet access, no music, phone switched off and ignoring the outside world.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 10, 2011)

Of course, when I say "social interaction", we all know what I mean.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 10, 2011)

And what I mean is watching Countdown and Dickinson's Real Deal.  And drinking tea.


----------



## smmudge (Oct 10, 2011)

kabbes said:


> And what I mean is watching Countdown and Dickinson's Real Deal. And drinking tea.



Ugh. It's people like you who are ruining daytime TV for the rest of us


----------



## kabbes (Oct 10, 2011)

Dickinson's Real Deal is a brilliant thing to have on in the background when you are working.  You can pay it almost no attention whatsoever, but the occasional glimpse of orange and the background murmur of his smooth tones makes whatever you are doing all OK.


----------



## scifisam (Oct 10, 2011)

I love working from home. I think it helps that I have to get my daughter up and off to school and walk the dogs at regular intervals, so I have a routine forced on me. Doing something sort of physical (Wii Fit, housework, dog-walking) every hour or so helps too - it wakes my brain up.


----------



## smmudge (Oct 10, 2011)

kabbes said:


> Dickinson's Real Deal is a brilliant thing to have on in the background when you are working. You can pay it almost no attention whatsoever, but the occasional glimpse of orange and the background murmur of his smooth tones makes whatever you are doing all OK.



No. That is what This Morning, Loose Women and Jeremy Kyle are for. Dickinson just invokes irritability and annoyance that distracts from the task at hand.


----------



## kabbes (Oct 10, 2011)

Loose women promises much from its title and then delivers less than nothing.  This Morning is wet beyond belief.  And as for Jeremy Kyle -- I saw a few seconds of that once, but it appeared to feature people talking a foreign language, so I gave up on it.


----------



## Clair De Lune (Oct 10, 2011)

I have to have music on or I find  it impossible to concentrate. I quite enjoy choosing just the right albums to be enjoyable but not too intrusive


----------

