Hey, being self-employed is the greatest. You can set your own hours, work from home and, heck, you don't even have to work at a desk, man. It's amazing!
Hey wait a minute! I'm self-employed! Let me tell you a bit about my routine. I've started working out of 1871 a few months ago, which is Chicago's "digital hub," or basically just a big fancy co-working space in the Merchandise Mart that houses tons of local entrepreneurs.
It makes sense to be there with this blog and all, y'know? So that's new, somewhat. Before that it was the public library -- I've never been one for coffee shops -- or my desk to change things up.
But as I've started teaching at Second City, it's been a little more of a juggling act. Second City isn't far from 1871, so it's tempting to come in a little later and stay there and then go to Old Town. This means I'm out of the house most of the day and don't get back until close to midnight.
And when I get home at midnight, well, of course, it's time to get in front of my screens and catch up on email and line stuff up for the next day. I usually do this in bed. It's a way of fooling myself into feeling like I have "free time," because I'm also blabbing with friends and just doing odds and ends stuff.
What I didn't realize is that some people have me beat by never leaving their bed to work. According to a Wall Street Journal piece:
Half of 1,000 workers polled this year by Good Technology, a Sunnyvale, Calif., mobile-security software company, said they read or respond to work emails from bed. A study of 329 British workers found nearly one in five employees spends two to 10 hours a week working from bed, according to the 2009 poll by Credant Technologies, a London-based data-security company.
Apparently there's been a surge of people working from bed, or their "sleep space," to the tune of nearly doubling in the past decade.
As the WSJ points out, there's a veritable cottage industry cropping up around this: Sell junk to help people be more efficient in bed (No, not like that, perv).
There are companies selling wider beds so couples can turn their beds into co-working spaces. There's the "pyramid pillow," which seems ripped straight out of Skymall, which basically is a pillow caddy for your pens, papers and working junk.
Business
Yeah, it's weird.
Scientists and sleep study folks also say "screens tend to suppress the sleep hormone melatonin."
I still say someone should open a co-working space that has beds in it instead of desks.
Now, if you'll excuse me? I'm going back to sleep.
David Wolinsky is a freelance writer and a lifelong Chicagoan. In addition to currently serving as an interviewer-writer for Adult Swim, he's also a comedy-writing instructor for Second City. He was the Chicago city editor for The Onion A.V. Club where he provided in-depth daily coverage of this city's bustling arts/entertainment scene for half a decade. When not playing video games for work he's thinking of dashing out to Chicago Diner, Pizano's, or Yummy Yummy. His first career aspirations were to be a game-show host.
