If you’ve had trouble adjusting working from home during COVID, raise your hand! Are all of our hands up? I thought so ☺ If you are an essential employee or have been working in public at any capacity, THANK YOU.
As someone who has been working remotely during the past two and a half years, I COMPLETELY understand that working from home is a huge adjustment. I’m sure we have all read articles about how coronavirus could affect working from home. Predictions say that many companies are in no rush to begin a normal office structure, so we may have to work on brushing up our “remote work” skills for the long run.
Here are my top work from home tips!
- DESIGNATE A SPACE FOR WORK. Have you ever been confident that you could “work with the TV on”, but instead you take a nap or binge the entire first season of Ozark? We’ve all been there. Or is it just me?! My NUMBER ONE tip is to separate the space between working and living. I know not everyone has room for a full scale office in their apartments or homes, but even a desk in the corner of one room will do the trick. The idea is that your designated work space is where you work, every day. When you’re sitting at your work space you can focus on your work, clock out on time, and commute to the kitchen to eat a snack. When you work in your living room, in your bed, etc. it’s nearly impossible to focus. I’ve noticed that whenever I work somewhere other than my office, I get distracted with cleaning or laundry and end up having to work longer hours to catch up.
- MAKE A MORNING ROUTINE. If you roll out of bed at 8:59 AM, this one is for you. I’ve found that the first few days of working from home are exciting because you can sleep in later than usual, or you can wear pajamas without anyone knowing (I’ll always be thankful for Zoom calls with NO video)! But I’m sure most of us realized after time that the novelty wears off and you want to feel like you’ve accomplished ANYTHING except for sitting at your computer for hours on end. In my experience, a morning routine helps so much, whether that’s taking your dog on a walk, yoga, working out for an hour (or ten minutes), meditating, making a healthy breakfast with your favorite coffee, or getting dressed in work attire. It feels so good to accomplish things before the work day even starts, especially if you have gained extra time by not having to commute! But, if the only thing you want to achieve before work is staring at the back of your eyelids, that’s cool too ☺
- TAKE BREAKS. When you’re not involved in the water cooler gossip or group lunches at the office, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in a project and forget to eat lunch or even get up and walk around a little bit throughout the day. Take some time to yourself as the day goes on so you don’t get burnt out! Listen to a podcast, call a friend, or go get some fresh air…anything to make sure you’re not locked in your office or glued to your chair all day!
- OVER-COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CO-WORKERS, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS: One of the main complaints during remote work is feeling isolated or lonely. This is why it is SO important to keep in constant contact with the people in your life! Schedule facetime chats, zoom calls, or check in through e-mail and text. This will not only help you feel like you’re part of a community outside of your four walls, but it could also help a friend or co-worker that needs more social time! Better yet, some work communication might get lost in translation since you’re not in person with your team. Checking in not only helps your mood, but it can also help improve your work! It’s a win-win ☺
- STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULED HOURS. When there’s no separation between your home and office, it’s so normal to always have your laptop or phone ready to check and respond to e-mails. Unless it’s an emergency, I would stay away from your work area when you’re not actively working! This is so you can set a boundary. Just because we’re all home close to 24/7 these days does not mean that people can contact you whenever they want or that you should respond. We all have lives and it’s healthy for us to schedule our time properly so we can give 100% to work during 9-5 (or whatever your hours are) and 100% to ourselves, our family, and our friends after hours!
There are SO many more that I’ll probably write about in a future post, but these really are the top things that helped me successfully work from home. Please comment if you have a process that works for you! ☺
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