Disclaimer: I recognize that the work-from-home lifestyle works really well for some people and can very well facilitate a healthy and thriving existence. The following opinions are my own and they mostly apply to younger people who are beginning their careers, and who also have the opportunity to work for a company with high-quality people.
I’m often asked why I work in an office when I have the ability to work from home. People are baffled that I embark on the 35-45 minute, traffic-ridden journey through two towns only to get on calls with teammates from Wisconsin, New York, and Alabama. The pandemic seriously spurred on the already growing movement for Remote Work and it seems assumed in most conversations now that remote work is the way. If you have the option, pick the superior one! Right? Well, here is why I prefer to make that drive to the office even though the majority of the work I do doesn’t involve the dozen or so coworkers who neighbor me in the studio.
The Office
I worked from home long enough in 2020 to know that God did not design me to sit in a room mostly isolated for 8 hours every day. I even consider myself an introvert, yet it became obvious very quickly that this mode of living was not sustainable.
Focus
Focus is much harder at the house. It's full of all my hobbies, instruments, books, food, and house projects that demand an unnecessary degree of discipline to constantly ignore. All of this goes away simply by sitting in a calm room full of other focused people where there isn't much more than a diligent clacking of keyboards or a distant grinding of coffee beans to confiscate my weakly defended attention, and where whiteboards and white noise cultivate a studious, librarian feel.
If I work from home now, my wife is either home, which has its own distraction of wanting to spend time with her and the baby—or the alternative where she is away and I am left in a lonely, quiet place. I cannot tolerate the quiet. It eats away at me until I just have to go get in the car and go somewhere else. I believe that human beings were intentionally designed to operate in a social, community-based way of life. In my case, I am confident that to confine the largest portion of my life to conduct that involves no face-to-face interactions would be to invite an inevitable mental health disaster. I recognize this aspect does vary from person to person.
Social
The small social interactions at work can seem irrelevant and unimportant at the surface level, but I think everything would be different for me without them. Coworkers are the people you spend the most time with through the 5-day work week. Year after year, they are in your sphere of influence and aware of what is happening in your life. Failing to avail oneself of this unique relational opportunity is to miss out on a real sociological benefit—not to mention foregoing the health and unity that it brings to the company too.
It is no small thing to constantly rub shoulders with people further down the road than you are and to constantly cross-pollinate ideas. I credit much of the life-building that I have done over the past three years to the invaluable input from the guys in my office. From questions like "Who is the most honest and reliable mechanic in town?" to "How do you buy a house?" I have received so much knowledge through osmosis that I wonder how different I would be today had I worked in an isolated environment for those 3 years.
Now, it should be noted that the people you are around must be positive influences for this to make any sense. If they aren't, you will still slowly become more like them and be moved in the opposite direction. Who you are—and I mean the very core of your identity—will be shifted in the direction of the people you let into your life. It can either be a tremendous perk or a formidable detriment.
The righteous should choose his friends carefully,
For the way of the wicked leads them astray.He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will be destroyed.Proverbs 12:26, 13:20 (NKJV)
The Drive
Some people hate the drive. An extra 5 minutes to a commute (one way) aggregates to an entire 40-hour work week of time lost in only one year! But is it lost? More often than not, the best ideas I can generate are during my commute. The desire to think and learn is always most potent right after getting out of the car. Most of it is prompted by the book I am listening to, which is oftentimes a biography of some of the world's smartest people with the best ideas. Unfortunately, right after I get out of the car either means I am clocking-in to work or clocking-in to fatherhood (more important work), so these ideas often die a quick sad death.
Nonetheless, I know that the value added to my life each day by the consistent time with my thoughts is non-trivial. Traveling down the windy roads with my windows cracked, a fresh cup of coffee, a delightfully interesting audiobook, and a whole new day ahead of me has become one of my most treasured intervals in the day. The time can be used for prayers and meditation. It can be used for listening to your favorite band's latest album. It can be used to call friends who you need to catch up with.
The time also allows for a mindset shift between work and home. It is much easier to leave work behind and be all-in once you're back, and it comes with a special moment of joy each day when you are reunited with the family. It has its downsides too, of course.
Conclusion
I'll still occasionally work from home if it's convenient for the day's plans, if I want to take it easy on the gas tank, or if I need to buy back an hour that day, but it isn't the superior option in my book. The benefits of being in the office along with the way I view the commute make it an easy tradeoff to make.