A New Promise I've Made to Myself

We make promises to a lot of people. We promise that we won’t be late for dinner. We promise that we’ll remember to bring the tuna casserole. We promise that we won’t bring up that topic in front of that that company. However, sometimes we forget that we need to make some promises to ourselves too. It’s only fair.

So, what promise have I made to myself and what on Earth does it have to do with the Monopoly card shown above? Well, it has a lot to do with maintaining my sanity, because, you know, that’s kind of important.

I will make it a point to get out of the house at least once a day.

From the outside looking in, this may sound like a very easy promise to keep. However, if you’ve lived in my freelancing shoes, then you’ll know that I have gone days at a time without ever venturing out of my front door. It’s hard when I don’t have any real excuse to do so. I work from home. I take my breaks at home. I prepare lunch at home. There’s no real reason to leave the outside.

You know, aside from maintaining my sanity.

Getting More Work Done

This could also be useful from the perspective of improving my productivity. When I’m working from home, it’s easy to get distracted by a variety of different things. I know that there is work to be done, but I also know that I can do it at just about any hour of day. That hour may not necessarily be this hour and therein lies the struggle.

By contrast, if I choose to pack up my laptop and hit up a local coffee joint for a caffeine fix and some free Wi-Fi, I feel compelled to do something. I’m taking up one of their tables and using their Internet access. I don’t want to be a freeloader, as it were.

Breaking Out from the Self-Imposed Jail

Even then, it’s not absolutely imperative that my adventures outside of the home have to do with the world of work. It can be as simple as going for a nice healthy jog around the park, helping family with some errands, or going out for lunch with a friend. Getting outside the house reminds me that there is a world beyond these walls and beyond this computer screen.

So, Internet, you can go ahead and hold me to my promise. Check up on me via Twitter and ask me every day if I’ve gone outside yet. Hold me accountable.