They say no one likes change! People don’t mind change as long as it doesn’t affect them. Most people will do anything not to change any part of their daily routine. Change is foreign, unfamiliar and to most people it’s scary because change is so unpredictable. On the other hand, I on the other hand, I love change.  I love the newness and challenge of change. Change makes me very aware of my new surroundings and/or new situations. Change allows me to start a-new and use what I’ve learned in the past and apply it to my new situation.

I enjoy changing around my office, changing where my computer is positioned every once in a while, and I’ll even change my mind!! The reality is you better find a way to be comfortable with change, because trust me, the only permanent thing in life (besides death) is change.

With all this build up to change I wanted to let you know that I’ve made a big change in my professional life. At the risk of dating myself, David Bowie said it best, “cha-cha-changes, time to make a change.”  I’ve changed companies where I work my professional craft Sapa Aluminum Extrusions North America is where I call my professional home. I’m responsible for the business development of the North American commercial building and construction markets.

I’ve been blessed with being able to stay in the construction industry that I love working in. I will continue to travel quite a bit, but the biggest change for me is the location of my office; my new office is in my home. I’ve never worked from my home so this new challenge is one I don’t take lightly. I’ve got several friends who work out of their homes. They love it and they gave me some very good advice:

• Try to get into a routine and set a normal working day, whether it’s 7-4, 8-5, or 9-6, try to stick to a start and finish to each day;
• There will be days when you’ve got a project to finish and work a little later than your normal time;
• Don’t try to plan to fit in a few honey-do jobs during the day. Work comes first, honey-do’s are for after work;
• Learn to be able to walk away from your desk when the day is done;
• Don’t go back into your office after dinner when nothing else is on TV; and
• If you’re not careful you’ll easily fall into one of two categories:
  • Drag yourself out of bed, make a pot of coffee, procrastinate until 10 a.m. and then go to your office and start your work day; or
  • Or, get up walk straight into your office start working, then realize  it’s 11 a.m. and you haven’t even showed for that lunch appointment you need to make!

These days, my wife and I are getting a taste of empty nesting. She’s a full-time RN, and for the most part our kids are all away from home so working from home is easy with very few family distractions. But, I can also see how you can fall into some bad habits when working from home.  Although our dog Izzy is a little confused as to why I’m home. She sometimes sleeps under my desk next to my credenza.

I think she does this to make sure I know how hard a day she’s having—you know, barking at the mail truck when it drives by, or the occasional neighbor walking their dog.

As for now, I guess because I’ve always gotten up early, my day starts early, it’s quiet, it’s still dark and not that much is going on. I also think that because I really enjoy what I do, it’s not a job; it’s a career in an industry that I love.

So for me, this change is a little scary and brings about some level of uncertainty but so far so good. Why does it seem that some of the biggest changes that we first resisted always turn out to be one of the best changes that have ever happened to us? It’s as though a higher being is in charge watching over us and helping us along the way, hmmmm … imagine that!!!