[shambulatron1]

Signed up specifically to reply to this comment, and to add my thanks for your blog post :)

I'm going through a lot of exactly the same thing at the moment, though sans startup environment. I'm intrigued to read that you consider the root cause to be extroversion. I wouldn't call myself an extrovert at all, and would ascribe most of what you write about to anxiety (for which I've recently started seeing a CBT counsellor).

Do you think that having your coworkers available in-person would have changed things because 1) having them around would have "recharged your batteries", i.e. the extrovert theory, or 2) having them around would have added the pressure to counterbalance the procrastination (my situation a lot of the time), or 3) something else?

[thelynchmob1]

I don't consider the root cause to be extroversion at all. That's one particular reason why I don't like working at home, but I could (and did) just rent office space to deal with that. The problem is that I'm afraid of succeeding -- so, for example, when I rented office space, I didn't go all the time. Or when my company offered to move me from the UK to Austin to be around them all the time, I said no.

2) is correct. I would have felt like I needed to do everything to the best standard because the people I was working for were around around me. I'd feel a much more personal connection with them, and I wouldn't want to let them down, so I'd get my work done, and do it well. And I'd be less afraid about speaking up, or mentioning problems, in person. It's also a lot easier to demarcate between work and not-work time when you're working at an office.