When I tell people I work from home, they tend to think that I sleep late, walk around in my PJs and lay on the couch with my notebook, taking frequent naps. Well. Maybe that’s what other freelancers do. I don’t.
I get up early (usually between 6 am and 6:30 am) and get dressed (who knows when potential customers may find their way to my door?), and I have an actual desk with a real PC, where I spent most of my working hours when I am not interpreting. I do have a notebook, but I only use it when I’m on the road. And there also is a couch in the living room, but I have never worked on it, other than maybe reading some professional magazines or other business-related books etc.
So, how about them naps, then? After all, being self-employed and working from home should have some advantages, shouldn’t it? Believe me, it does, and I would not trade it for an in-house position, regardless of how much you pay me! And, yes, one of these advantages is the fact that I can schedule my working hours fairly flexibly most of the time, including breaks and, well, naps.
I don’t do this regularly at all (unless I don’t feel well, of course), but every now and then, maybe because I worked late the night before, or because I slept poorly because the one dog woke me up three times to be taken out and the other one joined in for company, or because it’s just one of those days where the sun doesn’t seem to want to break through the cloud cover, and work is slow anyway and a walk in the fresh air is not feasible for whatever reason – every now and then I actually do lay down on the couch in the middle of the day and take a nap. Not a long one, 45 minutes tops, and I do set an alarm. But that’s usually enough to get me through that low point, past that slump in productivity, and then I am ready to roll again with a clear(er) mind.
The funny thing is that I usually don’t even really sleep during that time. But something about just laying there, letting my thoughts drift (preferably not on anything work-related) and listening to my dogs snore gently on their pillow next to me is so relaxing that my batteries get recharged anyway.
How about you? Do you take “power naps” during the day? If so, how long and how frequently? If not, why not?
I don't take naps. Not having dogs is also of great avail (we always had dogs in our family, but after my last dog had to be put to sleep at a venerable age of 14 some time ago, I decided to give a break). Procrastinating in front of the computer is an issue, but in other respects everything is pretty similar – get up early, work late the night, no sleep in daytime. No, no power naps (sigh… yawn).