1. Set up your work environment just the way you like it

This is a biggie for me. I like to work on my Mac (most if not all corporations are Windows shops). I like to listen to loud electronic music (or classical music, or jazz) while I work. I like to drink proper chinese and japanese tea from a teapot while I work. I like to focus for hours on end with no distractions. All those things are impossible in the typical workplace. These conveniences are not essential, but they make me feel happier and more comfortable, and so they make me more productive. An corporate office working environment is designed (sometimes..) to extract the maximum productivity from its employees as an aggregate. Working for yourself, you can design your office to be maximally productive for just you.

2. No more commute!

I have yet to meet anyone who likes commuting. Whether your commute is a 15-minute bus journey or a 2-hour train ride, no one actually likes commuting. And why would they? It’s a waste of time. It’s usually overcrowded. You’re surrounded by people who look as depressed as you feel. It can cost a fair bit of money (yes, you must pay for the privilege of standing with your nose jammed into someone’s armpit!). Working for yourself, you go to work when you want to (if your work isn’t at home)! You can avoid the rush hour. If you decide to have an office, you get the benefit of locating it where it’s most convenient for you. Oh, yeah, and you can work from home, quite easily (particularly with all the remote working tools available to the modern man). Then your commute is completely gone.

3. Plan your day in the way that’s most productive for you

I want to fit a lot of things in my day. I want to read a bit (I currently read one short story just after I wake up; it’s a good incentive to get out of bed!). I want to write a post for this blog. I want to go to the gym. I want to cook some healthy food. I need (don’t really want) to do some shopping for that. I want to spend some time with my girlfriend.

When competing with a day job, these things don’t stand a chance! Even just the simple matter of going to the gym is actually much more convenient when you can slot it where you want it. I find my gym workouts are most productive a couple of hours after lunch. I couldn’t have done that back when I was a wage-slave. Now, it’s no problem. I plan my day around my needs, in the way that’s most convenient for me.

4. Eat right, for the right price

Eating healthy can be exceedingly difficult in the City (of London, where I used to work). Yes, some shops sell apparently healthy food, but there’s not that many of them, and they tend to be expensive. To quote a UK healthy eating organisation, “in today’s world, with the kinds of foods available, it’s not a surprise there’s an obesity epidemic - it’s a surprise anyone at all is managing to stay lean!”

Eating at home means that I have full control over what I eat. If I want to snack on freshly steamed vegetables throughout the day, who’s going to stop me? Try doing that at work! Everyone will look at you like you’re a freak, and that’s not even starting on the logistical complexities of keeping a good supply of fresh vegetables and a steamer in an office packed with other people. Where I worked, that would not even have been an option - some of our offices didn’t even have a microwave, and there were all sorts of regulations that stopped anyone from even thinking about bringing in their own cooking tools.

5. Have a power nap whenever you want to

Ever feel drowsy at work? I know I used to. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s natural. Our wakefulness goes through cycles, influenced in part by meal times, but also quite simply by the natural circadian cycles. Even if you’re hyped up to your eyeballs and can’t stop yourself from working, if you’re honest with yourself you’ll admit that most days have phases of over-wakefulness and under-wakefulness. These are more than just appearances, too. When you feel a bit drowsy, your brain is a bit slower, less focused, less efficient. No amount of coffee will solve that (in fact, I’d argue it’ll make you more distracted). One thing will, though: a 20-minute power nap.

20 minutes is very little time. Most people wouldn’t even notice you’re gone. But with 20 minutes of down-time, you’ll find yourself feeling refreshed, wide awake, and ready to deal with anything - for the next 3 to 4 hours at least! Eat that, coffee! Of course, in the typical office, the idea of napping at work is unthinkable. The only way people can get away with it is to nap in the toilet - but that’s hardly comfortable. If you are stuck in a nap-free office all day, and you crave a bit of shut-eye, I’d recommend the disabled toilets. They tend to be more spacious and more isolated. In noisy environments, try a good pair of earplugs or pzizz.

6. Don’t do any work at all if you don’t feel like it

I’m a sincere guy. I don’t like to pretend. You might point out that my previous choice of a consulting career is a bit puzzling from that perspective. Don’t consultants lie for a living? Well, not quite. Consultants need fairly acute bullshitting skills, but bullshitting is not about lying. It’s about making yourself appear more knowledgeable about something that you don’t know right now, whilst being confident that if you do need to do that thing properly later you will be able to acquire all the knowledge you need before you actually need it. Still, there’s one bit of pretence that we all must employ.

There are days, inevitably, when you don’t feel like working. At all. You wake up (be it with a hangover that makes terminal cancer patients seem like a cheerful lot, ill, in pain from an overly harsh workout the previous day, or simply feeling totally demotivated), and you know that you won’t get anything good done today. You know that sitting in front of your desk all day will be a waste of your time today, even if you usually enjoy your work. You know it, and maybe even your manager knows it, but still, you must go to work and do your 9 hours like a good, obedient slave.

Working for yourself, this will never happen. If you know that the work you’ll do today will be useless, you don’t need to do it. There’s no system forcing you to work when you don’t want to. You’ll want to, though, most days, and because of this you’ll probably avoid those massive hangovers because they stop you from working. Which brings me to my next point.

7. Feel like working almost every day

Doing the work you want, when you want it, and leading a generally more balanced life, is a huge boon to your personal morale. Moreover, I find that being forced to pretend to work rubs off on “good days” and makes me not want to work any day. Like the newly freed wild animal who comes back to vist the humans who raised it, when you have the freedom to not work, you’ll find that you come back to it over and over and over. And you’ll feel like it, most days!

When I was working at my last job in the consulting corporation, I often felt that every day was a drag. Some days were better than others. There were even some days, or even weeks, when I actually felt like working. But most of the time, especially in the last year, I counted the hours to the end of the day, and counted the days to the end of the week. And then the weekend was over, and another depressing cycle began. Oh joy!..

Nowadays, I find myself counting the days since the beginning of the week, and wondering “What? How can it be Wednesday already?” When I think about how I’d best like to spend my evening, getting that last bit of “work” done often comes to mind. When I think about the weekend, I often find myself resenting (a little) the fact that I probably won’t be able to work through the whole weekend. I can assure you that that never, ever happened to me while I was working my corporate job.