For every freelancer or remote worker, working from home has always been the norm. However, for those of us who are used to being in the office daily, this is an adjustment. I remember seeing a number of articles and podcasts about dealing with the challenges of working from home.
In my head, I thought “what’s the big deal?” Turns out, it’s harder than it looks. To make things even more complicated, we’re dealing with a pandemic which means that it’s easy to lose focus during times like these.
I’m now in my second week of what I think will be many weeks working from home, but here’s what I have found to be helpful.
Set an alarm
If possible, you should try to keep as much of your usual routine. I envy those that can wake up at the same time every day without an alarm, but that’s not something I’m capable of. Since I’m not commuting at the moment, I can buy myself a little extra time! Instead of waking up at 6:45AM, I’m now waking up at 8AM, but still going to sleep at my usual time.
Have breakfast
This is tough for me because I’ll admit, on a normal workday I don’t always eat breakfast. Some of you may know this, but my “breakfast” is a cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks every. single. day. With Shelter-in-Place, it’s not reasonable for me to get my usual caffeine fix in the morning and I’m definitely feeling the impact. To supplement, I’ve got have a bite in the morning even if it’s small – a piece of toast, a chia seed pudding, two eggs, etc.
Get dressed
I can’t even begin to tell you how easy it is to settle into my sweats and leggings during this time. I’m doing everything in my power to resist that urge. Even though I’m getting dressed up to go nowhere, it impacts how I tackle my day. After all, I still have to “show” up to my Google Hangouts and be presentable. Taking a shower in the morning and getting dressed gives me the boost of energy I need. When the end of the day hits, that’s when it’s time to transition back to comfy clothes.
Choose your working space wisely
Even though I’m lucky to have a desk at home, it’s not always the most comfortable spot to work at. For the last week, I’ve been working from my couch surrounded by blankets and my space heater. It’s not the best choice, but it’s also 10x better than working from my bed! It’s easy to lose productivity if you’re not considering where you’re working from. Your energy levels can shift and maybe your posture can suffer. Though my space is small, I’m trying to get creative in working from a number of places in my home throughout the day.
To be honest, anybody can work from any room in the house only if they have a stable Internet connection and a router that can provide a good signal to the entire house. Regarding the Internet connection, individuals can look for service providers in their area. For instance, if an individual wants to get hold of an ISP in Houston, then he may need to check out the linked here webpage of Compare Internet here in order to find different service providers. As for the routers, individuals can search for reputed brands on the Internet and shop from an online store. Or they can simply visit a local store near them.
Anyway, coming back to the topic, one of my pals suggested that I try going to a different location and working from there. She has been doing the same with the help of timeshare. I’ve heard that quite a lot of my friends make use of this contract to get discounts in various resorts. However, I’m quite skeptical about the same as in case it doesn’t work out, I’ll have to get in touch with a timeshare exit company such as centerstone group to get out of it. I’m not sure if I’ve all that time to go through so much hassle.
Give yourself a lunch break
It’s easy to completely lose track of time while working at home. The upside is that you might be at your most productive. The downside is that you forget to take care of yourself! Even though I don’t need to eat lunch for an hour, I still use that time for eating and whatever else I need to take care of during that time. Sometimes it’s also nice to just give yourself a mental break.
Keep connections strong
It’s unclear how long we’ll be in this period of shelter-in-place, but while we can’t see anyone in person, it’s important to make time for virtual hangouts. Every day I have at least one phone call, face time, or a video hangout with either one friend or a group of friends to get my social intake. It’s also important to make sure you’re staying connected to colleagues. This is harder when you can’t see them in the office, but with cloud hosting services from somewhere like Logicata it’s easier to work as a team and keep up to date with everyone else’s work.
Establish a log off time
During my first few days of working from home, I found myself working later into the evenings. When you’re in the office, it’s clearer when there is a stopping point. You either have plans or you need to catch your ride home. At home when you’ve been doing the same thing nonstop, you almost don’t want to break your focus. It’s important for me to keep my routines though so while I may start at 9AM, I try to be diligent about stopping at 5PM.