Nothing like being told by a six year old that you don’t have a ‘proper job anyway’ to focus the mind on why you chose the path you do.

With being self-employed, the huge benefits of amazing flexibility are not lost on me but having to recondition yourself into an entirely new way of working remains challenging, even three years on. Some of this pressure does still come from expectation (my own mostly), but more so from perception….

To start with, working from home (in my dedicated home office I might add) means I don’t leave to go to ‘the office’ so it is therefore believed I can be around to juggle other tasks and chores, as well as my full time consultancy work…..

When telling people I ‘work from home’, this conjures up a variety of images – and questions like ‘oh you can put a wash on…while you’re working’ – is this really a tangible benefit of working flexibility? I really hope it’s much, much more than this…

Also being at home makes many people assume I don’t work at all….chances!

All of this does make me wonder just how structured and traditional perceptions of work remain even in the age of greater flexibility and agility. Does this greater flexibility erode a person’s professionalism or capability? I would argue absolutely not. For me it makes for much more productive, efficient and diligent working practises.