When “working from home” feels more like “trying to get work done while home.”

My attempt to cut the fluff and tell you that “working from home” feels more like “trying to get work done while home.”

Let me start by saying I hope you all are finding some sense of “new normal.” As we all try to find unique ways to connect and communicate during the current state of affairs surrounding this COVID-19 pandemic, let’s be willing to accept the imperfections, and be OK with being OK.

I’m sure you’ve had the chance to check my LinkedIn profile. I’m a communications professional, an adjunct professor, and a part-time entrepreneur, but more importantly, I’m a husband and a dad. The last two are 24 hours, 7 days a week jobs. Have you ever tried to convince your one-year-old that daddy’s home sweetie, but technically he’s not because he’s at work? Exactly, INSERT CONFUSED FACE.

OK, before I go any further, let me also say this isn’t the typical “how best to manage your day and maximize productivity from home” post, nor is it “let me rant about all the things that are going wrong during this transition period.” This is an acknowledgment that it’s different. For someone who has spent the majority of his time in a productive office setting (keyword productive), it’s been challenging to transition to working from home. So excuse me while I give you my unapologetically genuine rundown.

I consider myself a pretty structured person. Anyone who knows me knows I’m always trying to maximize my time. In fact, I’ve been mocked by many of my employees when I say, “What are you doing with your 8 to 5, how are you accounting for your 9 till 9:30, your 11 to 11:15, what can you be doing to leave your work in a better place than it was the hours and days before you started it?”

Well, you all, I’m willing to go on record and say since I’ve had to transition to the stay-at-home work dad, I’ve lost about 45% of my productivity. Don’t get me wrong—I attend my Zoom meetings, make my phone calls, send my emails, get my class lecture materials together, edit my stories, all the things I have to do, but it’s certainly nowhere near the scale it could be or that I’m accustomed to. There are certain tangible and intangible things that I get from being in the office. There are just certain things I miss.

It’s being able to walk down the hall and ask an important question or get immediate feedback, have 18 browser windows open because I know the infrastructure can handle it, render video on a machine meant to render video, take a call on my office line, send a text from my cell phone and fire off an email almost simultaneously. I miss that. There goes 20%.

Not to mention the space, the environment, closing my office door. Take, for example, the most recent dilemma: My wife, who also works from home, and I both have a meeting. Whose meeting is more important? Do we rock, paper, scissors to see who has to watch the girls and remain on mute/no video? Do we ask to reschedule? Which one of us asks to reschedule? I can’t stop the thought from creeping up in the back of my mind, “What would happen if I wasn’t here?” No worries, the good husband’s got this. Can’t get that 10% back.

Here’s another example: I’m in a groove, I’m writing, I’m developing, I’m in full work mode, then I hear “STOP! GIVE IT BACK! (insert crying)” Immediately, the good dad kicks in. “What is going on down there?” (Get up to go see what all the chaos is about.) Situation handled, let’s get back to it. Wait what was I doing? What was I going to say again? (Calendar invite pops up.) It’s now time for your 3 p.m. meeting. Wait it’s 3 p.m.? I didn’t even have lunch. There goes that last 15%. See, I’ve explained the 45% of productivity I’ve lost.

I’m adjusting, but I’d be less of my unapologetically genuine self if I said, “No worries, working from home is great.” Is that bad to say? The truth is, I’ve got to be willing to be OK with being OK. Maybe this blog post is my coping with it. Who knows, but give this traditional 8 to 5 guy a little more grace as I figure this out.

Listen as we all try to find unique ways to move forward and seek some sense of "new normal" here's my work from home chronicles. This work from home thing is certainly going to take a bit of adjusting.