Isolation – the biggest dream killer for home workers

I’ve worked from home for over 20 years and found that being able to pick and choose my time with other people suits my tendency to introversion. Despite being happy with my own company, however, I’ve always been surprised by how often I need to ‘top up’ by getting out and talking to others. But often I’ve abandoned plans for trips out because I felt I couldn’t afford the time or the expense involved.

I changed my mind recently, as I’m currently on Daniel Priestley’s Key Person of Influence programme and as a way of preparing for joint ventures and partnerships he encourages us to pick up the phone and invite someone we’d like to know to meet up for coffee. The people I wanted to meet are all in London so I went up for a couple of days – and lots of coffee!

I was blown away by how much energy and inspiration I got just by talking to people who have clever ideas and run successful businesses, and I’m sure the investment will repay me many times over. I’m so convinced of that I’ve made a resolution to repeat the trip regularly.

I was recounting all this to a friend and he replied, ‘Ah yes, Barbara Sher says that isolation is the biggest killer of dreams.’ I had only vaguely heard of Barbara Sher, but those few words hit me right between the eyes.

It is a fact of life that left too long in its own company (and everyone has their own limit) the human brain seems to circle inward on itself, making horizons narrow and possibilities disappear. The danger is that the process is so imperceptible that you may not even realise it’s happening until something happens to bring you up sharp.

My resolution for 2011 is not to let my dreams be killed stone-dead by too much time on my own, tempting though that may be. They need to get out there just as much as I do, encounter other thoughts and ideas, and start to find expression in the big, wide world.

This post was first published on www.workshifting.com, the site for people who work out of coffee shops, hotels, airports and their homes every bit as much as the office.