If we’re going to work from home, we might as well make the best of it, right?
If you’ve been working from home this past couple of weeks, then you may have noticed how much harder it is to stay focused and organized. It can be challenging to separate your personal life from your work life, and oftentimes, it feels like the days have all meshed into one long and blurry Groundhog day. At the end of the week, you’re left wondering if you’ve accomplished anything even though you’ve worked non-stop.
We’ve been working from home even before #StayHome was a thing, so we can relate.
To help you navigate through this time, we’ve compiled a short list of best practices to adopt when you are working from home.
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Have a designated work area – Separate your work area from your social, relaxing space. A designated work area will help you mentally to get you in work mode once you’re in your work area. It will also make it easier for you to relax and detach yourself from work at the end of your day when you’re done with work, and you want to relax. Your work area can be as small as a desk in your living room or as big as a separate room in your house. Regardless of the size, try to make this your office. Make it pretty and pleasant so that you enjoy being in this area. Add plants, pictures, and fun office decorations. This is your space to be productive, and you should enjoy the time you spend here.
2. Establish Routines – This is your key to creating a sense of balance and accomplishment while you’re in your casual space at home. Establishing a routine will help you with your productivity and create boundaries if other people are at home with you.
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Wake up at the same time during your workweek. Make your bed, get your breakfast (and the kids’ breakfast) and follow your morning routine. Sit at your desk to start work at the same time every day. Have your coffee or tea with you and prepare yourself mentally to “go to work”. Over time, this set schedule will create order in your house and teach others that you’re at work now (well hopefully – depending on how old your crew is)
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Take scheduled breaks throughout your work hours. Get up from your desk and walk around the house. Make yourself lunch, or a snack. There are perks to working from home, and you are allowed to enjoy them. If you’re up to it, you can get some house chores done, like throw in a load of laundry or call someone for a friendly chat.
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Give yourself a hard stop at a specific time to end your day. This reinforces your schedule and mentally helps you de-work. Close your laptop or turn off your computer. You can still answer the odd email or call, but do so knowing that you’re going in overtime.
3. Change out of your sleepwear – Make the effort to get out of your PJs. You may think it’s pointless to freshen up and get dressed when you’re going to be home all day, and no one is going to see you. But this step is for yourself and for your benefit only. When you change your clothes, you are taking the first step in your day to participate in the outside world. Even if you’re putting on leggings and a comfortable T-Shirt, you are now dressed for the day. Brush your hair, put on some blush and lip gloss and feel good when you look at yourself in the mirror. Also, now that video calls are more common, you can feel good about turning on your camera and talking to your team without having to apologize that you look like a mess. This step is only for you and to feel good about yourself during the day.
4. Stay connected – Download Slack or Google Chat and stay connected with the people on your team. There are many platforms that you can stay connected and chat, but we recommend using one for work conversations. If you use FB chat or WhatsApp to communicate with your friends and family, it can be distracting to have work-related discussions in the same area. Having a separate location for work-related dialogue will help you stay focused on work. Google Chat is the one we use. It’s free, and we can share files, connect to Goggle Drive and have video calls at any time.
5. Use Lists – Write down your tasks at the beginning of the week and separate your workload for each day. When the unexpected happens, you can re-prioritize instead of getting overwhelmed and forgetting things. Use these lists we’re made to help you get started. Cross off your tasks when you’re done and look back at the end of the day or week at how much you’ve accomplished.
Some of these may be easier said than done, but it really comes down to being disciplined. It’s up to you how you want to spend your time. Having structure throughout your day can help you be more productive if that’s what you want to do. We realize that having kids at home can through everything off on another level. We cannot speak from personal experience on this, so we’ve included a few links to other posts that focus on how to work from home with kids;
– 5 tips for effectively working from home during the coronavirus outbreak, when you have kids.
– How to work from home with kids (without losing it)
– Get Work Done with Kids at Home