Guilt is a funny thing. It's amazing how quickly that nagging voice can kick in, leading us to question our actions or feel that we have fallen short of some kind of accepted standard. Workshifting comes with its own set of guilty feelings.

First off, there's that little thing of the commute. My husband and I live in Chicago, a city that is renowned for its gridlocked highways and nightmarish commutes. While most days I have a commute of about 1.5 seconds - the time it takes me to walk from our bedroom to my office - my husband spends anywhere from an hour and a half to more than two hours commuting from our home just north of the city to his office out in the suburbs.

On most days I get up later than him and still start my work day a good 45-60 minutes before he even reaches his desk. While I jokingly tell people that he's commuting "for the both of us," there's not a day that goes by when I'm not marred with guilt about our huge discrepancies in commuting time.

Working from home can also lead to a pretty interesting mix of feelings of guilt. On the one hand, I often feel guilty about focusing exclusively on work when there are things to be done around the house. On the other hand, if I'm doing laundry or running errands, I often feel guilty about not working. 

I still find it hard to step away from my desk during the work day - even if it's for something like running to the bank or picking up milk. I know this probably doesn't make much sense. After all, I'm not taking advantage of the very things that attracts so many people to Workshifting. I guess there's just something about the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday that is so ingrained in my system.

Finally, I also often feel guilty when I feel I'm not working "hard" enough. This is especially the case when my workload is low. There's just something about sitting alone, without deadlines and pressing projects that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable and almost "worthless." It's completely different than when you're in an office and everyone around you is having a slow day.

I wonder if these things will change the longer I work outside of a traditional office environment. What about you guys? Do you share similar feelings of guilt?


Photo Credit: Music2Work2