How to work from home

…….. productively

The recent global pandemic has rendered almost everyone a work from home person.  While most people won’t know where to begin, a few are well-versed on the pros and cons of working from home.  Here are a few tips and thoughts on how to work from home while maintaining sanity and productivity.

Prioritise

Most people, whether working from home or a place of work, operate from a functional to-do-list.  The list could be as long as 50 items or as small as 2 items.  Learn to identify priority things to do from the non-priority.  The most effective way to do this is to allocate the priority items to the times in the day when your brain is at optimum productivity, and the least items for when the brain is multitasking with boredom and sleep.  At the same time try and define what a successful day means for you, and aim to achieve at least 75% of the things you need to complete to achieve that success.  For the newbies, this might seem intimidating and daunting so don’t be too hard and judgemental on yourself, if at first you don’t succeed try again later. 

Create a routine and stick to it

A routine could be anything from taking a shower and wearing fresh PJs every day to making dinner first thing in the morning. Just so you know, this is my actual routine on the days I have to work from home all day long. I have a selection of work PJs from Primark.  For me, having worked from home in the last 2 years, once breakfast and shower tasks are completed, I usually prepare dinner, it doesn’t matter if it at 8 am.  That leaves the whole day free to tackle my to-do-list and not having to worry about taking time out to prepare food.  I also find this keeps my sanity in check.  Having an established routine is good for stability which is essential for mental health.  The last thing you need is to feel lonely and/or cut off.

Be dedicated to your routine and follow the schedule. For me, I normally time individual tasks and if something is not completed by the allocated time for whatever reasons, and depending on priority e.g. a client’s work, I’d sacrifice a mundane task’s time.  However, those mundane tasks, which must be done, becomes secondary priority on the next available slot.  And when it all gets too much find a solution on how to tackle them without wearing your panties on the head, like going for a walk. Unfortunately, that’s not an option now, so now I go and stare at the clear sky and walk up and down my small garden.  I also like to listen to music while doing what I classify as mundane-but-must-be-done stuff.  Maybe one day I might have an admin who will have to do this.

Track your time

This is probably one of the most important things to do when working from home.  Because self-discipline is key and you are answerable to no one, tracking your time will ensure that you spend allocated time well.  It would define for you if you spent the time as expected and if you did what you were meant to do.  All too often you might find yourself drifting into other things you were not supposed to drift into, therefore wasting time and energy.  For example, you might receive an email which has links to several things.  You might click on those links and find your attention drifting for several hours on unimportant things that had nothing to do with that email.

Tracking time helps you figure out how your work flows and what patterns emerge.  You can then evaluate the effectiveness and adjust accordingly.  It also helps to identify times and to-do-lists that contribute to procrastination.  While procrastination is as human as it gets, tracking time and adding up the ‘lost’ time brings them into perspective and focus.  This is important at the beginning while you establish your routines, schedule and how much time is spent on what.

Workspace

Find a place dedicated to work and work only.  This will greatly improve time management, work-life balance and the all-important boundaries.  Boundaries are vital especially now when your whole family is in the house where you are trying to work.  If they know your ‘work-space’ they know better than to disturb you when ‘in the zone’.  My dining table is my workstation: in winter (sometimes), I work in bed, but this depends largely on the nature of the job or time of the month.  However, I soon realised it is important to leave the bedroom for sleep, that way there are no temptations to work when you are supposed to sleep because soon the tide turns.  I also realised it was harder to be ‘in the zone’ when in bed and surrounded by cuddly things beckoning you to slumberland.

Backdrop

Some people work in total silence, while others like me, like some background noise – if you are one for noise make sure the noise does not interfere with your concentration.  Find out what works for you, create the atmosphere and stick to it.

I like to surround myself with inspirational things (at my desk) – like a plant, a minted candle, big G (if you know you know), and work-like items: just small things to remind me I am at work and/or I need to work.

Find variety

At the most of times, working on the same things all day long can be incredibly boring, tedious and detrimental to your overall well-being and mental health.  This can also lead to daydreaming which is the dream killer of all times.  Whenever possible try to mix it up – mental agility activities (a silly game), physical (5-10 mins workout) and social (sometimes I answer calls when I shouldn’t because it reminds me that I have family and friends who think of me, and more often than not someone will tell me something that will make me laugh).

If you find yourself losing focus for whatever reasons, engage in a less mentally demanding activity like shredding confidential documents that need shredding – trust me you don’t even need a shredding machine to do this – I’ve had many epiphanies and eureka moments when engaged in shredding!

If shit comes to shove, take a break.  The world won’t stop rotating just because you are unproductive for a few hours in any given day.

End of day

Find an activity you enjoy to mark the end of a workday – like a 30 minutes aerobics or jog. Only now you can’t jog outside but who said you can’t jog on the spot in your own home.

Remember:

These are guidelines only and what works for me, they are not set in stone.  Different people find different approaches useful.

Don’t be too hard on yourself and avoid harsh self-judgement.  Once you know what works for you everything falls into place – the secret is to find what works best for you to achieve productivity, maintain sanity and be yourself. 

The world at the moment is scary and the last thing you need is to stress yourself to an early grave.  Do not struggle and work against the tide, follow your flow and what you are most comfortable with.

Practice mindfulness and meditation – be mindful of others and check in on loved one and the mentally vulnerable among us. Remember our healthcare workers all over the world – last line of defence – who (majority) can’t work from home.

Working from home has its rewards and its challenges but it can teach us about our energy levels and how to maintain safe levels, our patterns and preference.  Learn what works for you and perfect it to suit you.

Whatever you do, remember to reward yourself for big or small wins.  Your mental health and relationships might depend on it.  Be kind to yourself and others.

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