Working from home - tips to not go insane

/

With COVID-19 many of us have found ourselves working from home which can be the best! But also the worst, depending on where you sit on the introvert/extrovert scales and what your living arrangements are like.

So I thought I would share a few of the things that have helped me over the last few years.

From the dead obvious to the surprising - here are my hard earned 10 tips to rock a working from home gig. 

  1. Set your intention. You probably try and come across as somewhat professional and having your shit together when you work with others. Do this for working from home too! 

  2. Dress the part. Yes it’s fun wearing your PJs to work or no pants. For a week. After that, it starts to affect your morale. Get dressed. Wash your hair. Shave. Whatever your variation of those is. It makes a difference. 

  3. Schedule. Have one. It’s easy to let work creep into all of your waking hours but your productivity and mental health will rapidly suffer if you do. 

  4. Reap the benefits - do a load of washing on your breaks, get around with no pants, pizza lunch on the couch, take dance breaks, listen to music while you work, do your work in the garden...

  5. Take breaks, and time offline. I like doing Pomodoro bursts (time boxed) of work when I don’t have meetings, and getting offline for at least one hour every night before bed

  6. Recreate your commute OR get ritualistic. Doing something that symbolises your start and finish times helps transition mentally. A walk around the block, making a coffee, perhaps burning sage… you can make it whatever you want. A friend of mine just says out aloud ‘finishing now’ before she closes her laptop. Feels silly the first couple of times but really works

  7. Move! Ideally more than once but AT LEAST once. 5 mins of stretching, an online workout, walk outside

  8. Have designated work space if you can

  9. Make it comfortable and ergonomic - good temperature, no laptop on your lap sorry

  10. Don’t expect to be perfect from the start. Try the things above. Play with it - play with starting earlier in the day and then try later. See what works and let it be individual because that has got to be one of the best things about working from home.

Hope these were helpful.

I’m doing 10 tips for working from home with others around tomorrow!