Working from home is a skill

I love scuba diving. I first discovered the wonders of the underwater world in 2016 and since then I’ve gone diving several times a year.

That photo above is me diving near Bali back in January.

Now, you might be thinking: “Okay Peter, that’s great—what does scuba diving have to do with working from home?”

If you’ve never gone scuba diving before, you can’t just strap on your gear and go. You have to take a course.

In fact, when I first started scuba diving, I spent ten consecutive days diving several times a day with an instructor to learn the ropes. This makes sense because everyone recognizes that scuba diving is a skill. You can do it right, or you can do it wrong.

When you start diving, you will probably suck for a while. You’ll consume your air quickly, so you can’t stay underwater for long. You’ll bump into other divers. And you won’t know where to look for the most elusive creatures.

By contrast, many of us assume that we should be a pro at working from home from the get-go.

After all, working from home is just like working at the office, except in your comfy clothes, right? Wrong!

Working from home is a skill. You’re not legally required to take a course before you can work from home, as you are when you want to scuba dive. But you do need practice.

That means that if you’re not very good at working from home yet, that’s okay. Experiment, notice what works, and be patient. You’ll get better at it.