A friend of mine is a gamer - both player and designer. Because of her, when I hear people talk about Final Fantasy, Halo and Tony Hawk, I'm at least hip enough to know what's being discussed...although the fact that I just used the word "hip" is a pretty good indication that I'm not, given that the word died with the platform shoe. Although when linked to "hop" it may still have some mojo...but I digress.
 
Like most designers, Rusty dreams of designing her own game some day and getting rich. She sure doesn't lack for ideas. But she admits that she tinkers the ideas to death, failing to come up with a finished product before someone beats her to market with something similar. So far, it's happened 3 times.
 
This excessive tinkering has a name - architects call it "creeping elegance", that inability to put down the pen because an arch could be just a tad more perfect. It's a tendency for parts of a design to become elegant past the point of diminishing returns. In other words, effort doesn't always equal reward.
 
The concept of "creeping elegance" isn't just for architects. Many of us in the work force set our achievement bars high. We don't just want to do a perfect job, we need to do a perfect job for our own sense of self. We may add bells and whistles just because we can and we're suspect that the best answer to a challenge is the simplest one. Unless we give 110%, it's just "not good enough". Do we have the courage to ask ourselves...should it be?
 
"If I just had more time, I could (fill in the blank)." How often have you said (or thought) that? A friend sent me an article: "How to Gain Time." Yikes! Did I really miss such an important physics discovery? Turns out I didn't. Time is still finite. Twenty-four hours a day is all we get...even though the world may demand that we do more and more. Time management - that's what experts say we need. But isn't time management really "me" management? It's me deciding how I'll spend my finite 24 hours a day. And maybe, just maybe, I can accomplish more in my finite 24 hours if I decide that sometimes, it's okay to be "good enough".
 

  According to the U.S. Department of Labor, an estimated 65 million people work from home. With the recent surge in downsizing and the uptick in entrepreneurship, that number is bound to rise, as will the number of people who extend their work day beyond a traditional office setting by keeping a home office. The lines between work and life are getting fuzzier.
 
My home office started out as a desk and computer in a common area where children could be supervised and bills could be paid. I was still working in corporate America when an opportunity to become a consultant came along. It was a no brainer. I could work with people I knew and respected, I could have more flexibility in my schedule (creating a better work/life balance). And I could work from home in fuzzy slippers. My home office began to morph into a Home Office and I happily joined the ranks of people working full or part time from home.
 
I'm in good company. A study conducted by Home Office Computing Magazine reports that 96% of people working from home are happier than when they were in an office. The same study also revealed a 15-20% increase in productivity. There were time saving benefits as well. If it takes you 45 minutes to get work, that's a 90 minute daily commute. Ninety minutes a day is 7.5 hours a week and an astonishing 9 weeks a year!
 
Becoming a consultant and working from home is one of the best decisions I've ever made. My only regret? My Home Office. Not that I have one, but that I didn't research what my needs would be and then plan accordingly. And I didn't factor in the effects that changes in family life would have on the space.

 

If I were putting together a Home Office today, there are 4 things I would do differently:

 

 
All of this is a challenge...whether you work from home full time or "catch up" on work from the office. It's clear that the space in which we work can either help or hinder us.
 
I do have role models. I am using their Home Offices as a guideline. Each has selected a specific room and created a great space. (One uses a spare bedroom, one converted the garage, and one remodeled the basement to include a separate entrance to accommodate employees.) Their offices are convenient, organized, practical and aesthetically pleasing. More importantly, the boundaries are clear. If I call a friend, she'll say, "This is a good time for a break. I'll go downstairs for a cup of coffee." She has physical boundaries and reinforces those boundaries through her actions.
 
As I work to make changes in my own Home Office, I'll realize more acutely the benefits of working from home - flexibility, increased productivity, cost savings, comfort and accessibility. I'm also going to sharpen the lines between work and family...and I'm keeping the fuzzy slippers.