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Comment by jakobe | Hacker News Reader

One thing to note is that being self-employed doesn't mean you need to work from home. I always had trouble staying focused at home, and since I have kids working from home is almost impossible for me.

I now rent a desk in a shared office, and I work regular hours. I work 9-4 four days a week. I leave my laptop at work, so I can't do anything except answer the occasional email from home (when the kids let me).

It makes a tremendous difference. When I'm home, I often think of something I want to fix, but since I can't work at home, I have to wait until the next day. When I arrive at the office, I'm already eagerly waiting to get started and most times don't even think about checking HN.

(It doesn't always work. Sometimes I still have trouble focussing, but that was the same when I worked a "normal" job)

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Leaving the work laptop at work is great advice!

For those whom this isn't practical (like me) I have found that having two computers - one "work" and one "fun" - can serve much of the same purpose.

(Obviously, the "fun" computer could also be a netbook, tablet, whatever)

Same idea, really -- the idea for me is to create a computer that I strongly associate with work, so that sitting down at that computer means, "Hey brain... it's work time, dammit."

>I leave my laptop at work, so I can't do anything except answer the occasional email from home (when the kids let me).

I never thought of that. I am strongly considering a coworking space just to try this.

My only issue is that I sometimes do Skype consulting in the evenings, after my clients are done work (I'm a tutor). I would have to schedule those in blocks and have my laptop home for those blocks only.

What's security like for your laptop at work?

Someone I work with was abroad for a few months, so I also had to skype about once a week in the evening. I brought the laptop home on those days.

Concerning security, all my hard drives (internal & external) are encrypted, and my laptop is secured with a kensington lock. Those locks don't offer much protection, but I know everyone who has keys to the office, these are more or less just precautions to deter casual thieves if someone forgets to lock the office doors at night. My laptop is pretty old, and most of my work is stored in online repositories. It would be annoying if someone stole my stuff, but it wouldn't be the end of the world...

I like the idea of leaving the laptop at the shared work place. So often I get the laptop out in the evening, and end up feeling a little burnt out.

Just knowing you won't have your laptop at home I think must really help focus.

Yeah, I often really get into "the zone" when I look at the clock and I see that I promised to be home in an hour. It's amazing how you stop wasting time when you have less.

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