I started working from home eight months before the Covid pandemic hit. I love it. It’d be a real struggle to go back to office-based working now.

The only thing I miss is the commute. Well, not the waiting at bus stops in the rain. Nor being on crowded buses. No, it’s the time—the headspace—between leaving home and getting to work.

Thankfully, for much of the last two years, I’ve had a two mile round trip walk to my youngest daughter’s school several mornings a week. This has been vital.

This year my wife has been off work though and that has provided the luxury of having the car. And I’ve been unable to persuade my daughter to walk when there’s a car we can go in!

So I’ve lost that time and space again between home and work.

My latest workaround has been reading. And this works well with my ambition to read more books this year. What I’ve started to do is take 30 minutes at the start of the day to read my book. Usually accompanied by a mug of loose leaf tea and a bowl of granola. 

It’s all too easy when working from home to get up, grab some breakfast, open the laptop, and just crack on. I don’t think this is healthy. 

You may not have a child to walk to school, and reading might not be the thing for you, but it is worth experimenting with ways to create a kind of commute time between home and work.

—Sam

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@samradford | samradford.com