I spent years working from home. Then I went to an office. Then I split time. Then I worked from home. And all of those iterations were just glorious. Until they weren’t!
For those forced to work from home suddenly, there are some tips in my time in those trenches that might help others. To summarize it all, be mindful and deliberate. But here goes with more specifics (and I would love to learn more so please feel free to comment and add some)!
- Keep normal hours. One thing that’s worked for me is to still get up at the same time (maybe minus drive time or maybe not). Falling into a rut of sleeping in is easy but we should set alarms both to get up in the morning and maybe even when to go to bed. Drifting outside of our normal hours can certainly cause us to feel depressed.
- Take a shower and get dressed. Heck, maybe we should get fancy while we’re at it. I might bust a tux out of the basement for my video calls tomorrow. Or a costume. Point is, we should keep the routine and feel more positive when we’re still putting in the effort. Besides, who wants to sit in a meeting with someone with enough oil in their hair to power a Kentucky Fried Chicken?!?!
- Cook breakfast. Breakfast is an important meal. It gives us the energy to make it through the day. Many of us fall into the habit of skipping breakfast. But it has always helped me even more when I’m working from home than when I’m out in an office where I show up and the inertia of the day can carry me straight through to quittin’ time.
- Exercise. Exercise reduces anxiety and depression, improves our self-esteem, and fills us with energy. We don’t need to do more or less of it than usual, for the most part. But keep up that part of the routine and look for easy ways to start if it’s not already a thing.
- Video conference. Most organizations have tools like Webex, Zoom, or something else. The subscription is paid for. Use it. It makes us feel more connected to coworkers and keeps us honest about keeping up with ourselves. When we see others not really looking the part, just check in and see if they’re OK.
- Don’t slack in meetings. No pun intended there. Anyone not used to working from home might not have realized just how assertive we have to be to be heard when sitting in a meeting remotely. Step up! That goes two ways, by the way, we should be doing our best to draw others into the conversation and make all the voices heard. That can be hard but it’s super important.
- Stay off social media and the news. A little social media will make us feel more connected with our friends and family. Especially if we’re distancing responsibly. But too much and we can’t help but see what so-and-so did or the latest headlines. When we’re working, we need to tune that stuff out; otherwise we’ll never get anything done.
- Don’t play games. This probably goes without saying, but don’t turn the Xbox on. One more level…
- Stay social with coworkers. Staying off of social media doesn’t mean not participating in social communities from work. Slack, Teams, Chatter, there are tons of tools. Watching what coworkers are saying and doing will keep us feeling connected with the office.
- Claim some space. We need our space to be productive. Preferably a place where we have quiet and the ability to close the door and shut out kids and pets when needed. That doesn’t mean we get to claim an entire floor of the house or anything, but putting a desk in a spot to get a little separation is a must.
- Deck out the space. Now that we’ve claimed our spot, let’s make it awesome. If it’s in a room of its own, check the lighting and how comfortable the spot is. If it’s in a room that might be shared, let’s put up a curtain or some kind of barrier to give ourselves the space we need. Check the height, the comfort of the chair, and put some sitabouts wherever it makes sense to do so!
- Get a solid soundtrack. Keep a few playlists that are actually workable. Think about music with no lyrics for some tasks that require deeper concentration and maybe something fun for routine email checking and stuff like that. I’m always looking for new music and playlists so feel free to share some with me!!!
- Keep those normal break times. We all get up from our desk when we’re in the office. Maybe it’s every couple of hours to get coffee. Or make tea. Keep that up. Even if it means just going out in the back yard to throw the ball for the dog. Back to back meetings might make this difficult but we need to make times to decompress a little.
- Learn something new. We should all end up with a little free time here and there. Keeping busy without compartmentalizing and not noticing when we’re truly isolating is a great thing to do. Take a course at one of the variety of online training facilities. Chances are that it can be paid for, but we improve self confidence that way. And if it’s not in the budget, find some new podcasts to help get some separation from things here and there.
- Set boundaries. Try to keep work people from texting. Use the chat for the organization, like Slack or Microsoft Teams if possible. Set an expectation with friends and family about work times. Especially if they’re in the home. This will keep us productive when we need to be. And keep the workspace tidy. The most important thing is to be deliberate.
- Prepare to be flexible. Kids may be at home. Pets may need to get out. Heck, we may need to get out. We can set those boundaries, but often find that flexibility on time and space are required. Be patient. Rules are made to be broken. Or bent.
- Set a routine to delineate between work and home life. The lines will blur. It seems more like work-life co-existence than balance. But that’s fine. We prepare to be flexible, but being cognizant that the goal is to disengage at 5 or 6 and get started at 8 or 9 or whatever work hours – that’s important. Otherwise work can easily bleed further into home life than ever before.
- Be clear when tasks slip. Working from home means people don’t see us working on a day-to-day basis. Tasks slip to the next day or week just as frequently when we’re at work, but they almost seem more visible when the impacted people don’t see us at the kitchen or getting coffee in the office. Staying vigilant and over communicating keeps us well connected and helps everyone be clear on expectations and dependencies.
- Celebrate successes. Working from home means people in the office don’t see us and don’t congratulate us. When we see others killing it, announce that to the group. It will act as a motivator for those celebrated as well as those that want to be celebrated. And maybe remind the rest of the organization that we’re still alive.
- Get out of the house. This could be a walk through the neighborhood during lunch break, taking the kids to the park, heading to the drive thru of the local coffee shop. A little vitamin D will go a long way to keeping us sane, happy, and healthy.
- Burn some of that sick time. If we didn’t plan for the kids to be home, we are gonna’ slip. Especially if they don’t have school work or something to keep them busy. No one is going to judge us for burning a half-day or day of sick time here or there. In fact, they are more likely than ever to be just fine rebooking meetings at the drop of a hat. Family and well being first.
- Plan activities for the kids. Maybe this is restricting devices to only educational content for awhile. Or maybe this is planning little activities during breaks (although we need time for ourselves). But kids need routines. And planning that out in advance will help them know what to expect and help keep us from feeling guilty at the end of the day. And the guilt is real if the kiddos get to spend too much time in front of screens.
- Look for signs of depression. I once had an employee tell me it was lonely working from home. It certainly can be, for introverts just as much as for extroverts. It’s hard to know ourselves in this way. Especially for those that battle depression. But we should also let loved ones know how we’re doing routinely. When high anxiety issues are happening externally as well, we all have permission to do this! Actually we all always do, but especially now.
- Get a work buddy. Pick a person in the office who can keep us honest about how we’re feeling and who we can keep honest. This might be a checkin once a day to ask how things are going or “on a scale of rock star to crying how’s it going to day?” Be on the lookout for negative feelings about the job. Or life. Hopefully those pass but dealing with them early keeps us at our best and helps find areas where personal and work stresses are potentially impacting the others.
- Reach out to others for support. Yes, we’re going to have hard times. Working from home and social distancing of any kind should get to us every now and then. We’re only human. Don’t be afraid to just say that you needed the company of another human. Being vulnerable will only help. And not just with the work buddy. But with anyone. Heck now might be a good time to just book some time with a stranger to hear about what they do. That’s one of my favorites.
- Upgrade the Internet connection. Not everyone should do this. But if video is cutting in and out or getting choppy then it might be necessary. As an aside, if it’s a shared workspace then either using a VPN to connect to the Internet or using a separate connection will help keep your traffic safe.
- Get a sun lamp. Vitamin D for the win!
- Get excited about the upside. Look, there’s no gas expense, no commute time, no getting bad at crappy drivers, the animals love it when we’re home, the house is probably cleaner than ever. Working from home can get a little lonely. But it’s great! And for some, it’s short-term but we’ll be asking to split time in the future, at a minimum!
- Get creative! There are dozens of other things to put on a list like this. Whatever makes us happy and feeling whole. And if you have something working for you, throw it in a comment! I certainly love hearing new ideas!!!
The important part about all of this is to stay connected to home and work. Most of these are about creating a positive work environment and having a great experience with it. I know that I’m way more productive when I work from home. But I do crave the companionship we find in an office setting when that’s not available. So good luck and do add to the list if you want!