Working amidst disturbances

Mar 27, 2005

Sometimes it is very difficult to work from home (sometimes, not always); especially when your parents, siblings or cousins are visiting you, and that too, according to their schedule, not yours. Despite the fact that I earn more than almost all the people around me, they think since I work from home, my schedule is of least importance.

In the evening I was writing for some client to whom I needed to send website content within two hours. My mother came into the room, settled down on the couch, and switched on the TV in full blast. She didn’t even pause for a few seconds just to ask me if I would be disturbed. The same goes for my cousins and other relatives.

A very puzzling aspect is, they don’t expect me to have much money because they don’t really know what I do and how I earn money. It isn’t that they never ask; they do ask and I do explain. But when I explain, they have this strange look of “Ok, let’s change the topic.” To an extent I understand their point of view. First, writing, to most of the people around me, is something very vague unless you’re writing stories or news. Optimized content or web content or for that matter getting work from the Internet is totally alien to them. On top of that, I’m not a great spender. I don’t believe in buying things if I don’t need them. Instead of purchasing myself an expensive gadget, I’d rather give my money to someone who needs it. I don’t buy expensive clothes because I’m comfortable with the ones I already have. I don’t eat expensive food because Alka and I mostly eat food that is healthy. Fortunately, Alka too shares my habits. Since they don’t see me spending, they think I don’t have money. And since they think I don’t have money, they draw the conclusion that I don’t do much work.

I have no problem with what they think. They can think I’m a pauper for all that matters. The problem is, they don’t think twice before disturbing me or dropping by at their own convenience. This causes severe distraction and consequently harms my work. Sooner or later I’ll have to drive in my point of view I guess :-).