I draw on Michael P. Farrell’s book entitled on Collaborative Circles: friendship dymanics and creative work. He refers to the study that Henry James conducted on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life. James characterized Hawthorne as isolated and secluded during key points in his life and career and argues that this isolation delayed his development as a writer.

“The best things come…from the talent that are members of a group; every man works better when he has companions working in the same line, and yielding to the stimulus of suggestion, comparison, emulation. Great things have of course been done by solitary workers, but they have usually been done with double the pains they would have cost if they had been produced in more genial circumstances.”

(excerpt from Hawthorne by James 1909, page 31).

Words to live by, I’d argue. Working from home has both benefits and costs.

Balance, Grasshopper, balance!

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