I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for a while now. With recent events, it seems like there are a lot of people out there that could use some advice about how to work effectively from home for a long period of time.
I’ve been working from home regularly for almost a year and a half now. It’s been a bit of a journey, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and my own work habits. I’d like to share some of the things that I do in my day-to-day to keep me motivated and effective while working at home.
Wake Up At The Same Time You Normally Do
It’s super easy to think to yourself, “I don’t have to drive to work, so I can sleep in!” Don’t. First off, if you’re only working from home temporarily due to the current state of events, you don’t want to re-adjust your waking schedule in order to go back.
Secondly, you don’t want to be rushing through your house 15 minutes before a scheduled call to get a shower and shave in. You have some added time in the mornings now. Let’s appreciate what you can do with that time…
Start the Day With a Win
I still get up pretty early in the morning, even though I work for a remote first company. But instead of rushing out of the door to get into my car and make my commute, I take the time to prepare myself mentally for the day. I take time to grind some fresh coffee from whole beans and the let it steep in my french press. While I’m doing this, I’m going through my mental checklist of things to do. I might also kick off a load of laundry – or even jump on for a quick match or two in my favourite video game before sitting down in my office and getting started.
What does a video game have in common with a load of laundry? It’s really about accomplishment – a small win can go a long way for setting the tone for the day.
Have a Designated Work Space
Maintaining work/life balance is important. Oftentimes, in your mind, where you work from at home becomes associated with work. Keeping your desk in your bedroom where you’re supposed to rest, or in your living room where you relax, can cause stress as time goes on. So if you can, keep a completely separate space for this.
It also helps you to set your mind on work. Going up the hall to your designated office is kind of like commuting to work. As you walk down the hall to your office, your mind starts preparing you for the day’s business.
It’s okay if a room for work doubles as a guest room. As long as that room is not regularly used by you. If you don’t have spare space, try to keep your working area removed from parts of your home that are used the most frequently. Maintain that separation as best as you can.
Dress Appropriately
You don’t wear pajamas to the office. Don’t wear them when you work from home. Getting dressed for work is quite possibly the most important routine to setting your mental tone for the day. You may be able to relax your style of dress a bit. For example – if you wear a full suit to the office, then perhaps you can get away with a button up shirt without a jacket and tie. But stay away from wearing anything too casual. You’re working – not on vacation. I’ll often change out of my work clothes at the end of the day to transition myself out of the working mindset.
Avoid Unnecessary Distractions
Listening to music while you work is fine, but avoid things like television, social media, or any types of activities that will draw your attention from work. A quick check of Facebook or YouTube can quickly devolve into a couple of hours of productivity lost.
The same goes with doing things around the house. It’s not bad to wash a few dishes at lunchtime, or pop in a load of laundry between meetings, but stay away from more time consuming tasks. Vacuuming or mopping can wait until later.
Manage. Your. Time.
I track just about everything in my calendar. Meetings, tasks, follow-ups, etc. The reason why I do this is that it allows me to be able to manage my time effectively through the day. For example, if I have a follow-up email that requires some time to research, I schedule the time I need to do that research and draft the email. If I need to take 45 minutes to do that, I schedule 45-minutes. I may also add some padding in those time estimates so I can take breaks (nature will call), and transition my mindset from one task to another. This provides some additional benefits as well…
First, you can effectively manage your work day. If you run out of time in your allotted work hours, schedule tasks to the next days. This allows you to stay within a reasonable distance of your targeted 40 hours.
Secondly, you can also manage expectations regarding your deliverables. If you have a follow-up promised, you can set an expectation with that person of when they will see it. “I can have an email with all of the information you requested on X day around Y time.”
Third, as current events are forcing companies that may have been adverse to working from home, you may get questions on what you’re doing with your time. Having your calendar populated with these tasks allows you and your manager to review your workload.
Always remember that tasks can be moved, but when you do, make sure that you’re managing your expectations with others effectively when you do.
Avoid Generic Task Windows
Two things I absolutely hate seeing in peoples’ calendars – Focus Time, and Email Follow Ups.
Focus Time – What are you doing during this time? Do you know? Does your manager know? *Insert shrug emoji here*
Having generic time with no set tasks often time leads to ‘goof off time’, or at least the perception that that’s what is going on during that time. Set meaningful tasks as calendar subjects. Then you have a goal, and your managers know what you’re doing (if they like to micro-manage).
Email Follow Ups – How many emails do you need to follow up on? How much time do you need to make a thoughtful response? How much research effort is needed for a given email? These are the reasons why I don’t like email follow up time.
If you set an hour at the end of the day for follow up emails, and you have 10 emails that you need to follow up on, how much real thought and research can you put into those emails? Furthermore, how can you really track what emails require follow ups, and how can you prioritize. Set a task for anything that requires a meaningful follow up and estimate your time appropriately.
Use Video Messaging…With Video
Remember when I said get dressed for work? Well here’s another part of the why.
When we collaborate, we often rely on a person’s body language and facial expressions as visual cues during a discussion. This is just as important, if not more so, when working collaboratively over distances. Turn the camera on. Zoom Meetings has a really great Virtual Background feature if you’re afraid of your co-workers seeing any messiness in the house.
Diet Is Surprisingly Important
Take time to actually make your lunch. Shy away from junk foods. I have a time every day that I take a few minutes and actually make a sandwich, or sometimes even cook an actual meal. You don’t have to set an hour every day, but at least take 30 minutes to make something. This allows you time to not only eat something healthy, but also gives you a much deserved mental break during the day.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube (I’m a fan of Binging With Babish and Joshua Weissman) for some relatively simple and tasty recipes that you can do in 30 minutes. Stay away from garbage foods.
Get Out Of The House! But Not In A Group!
It looks like we could be engaging in social distancing and self-isolation for a while, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay inside with all of the doors and windows shut. If you have a back yard, go do some landscaping. If you have a balcony, get some fresh air. If your city isn’t under curfew or shelter-in-place orders, it’s okay to go for a walk. Just maintain an acceptable amount of distance from others when doing so.
Obviously, follow any restrictions that your city/state-province/country has set down. But if there’s no restriction to get outside and grab a bit of sunshine and fresh air, take advantage of it now.
Staying cooped up inside of your home for weeks on end is going to take a toll on you if you don’t break up the monotony.
Finally – Go To Bed at a Reasonable Time
This dovetails into my first point about waking up at the same time as you did when you were commuting. Go to bed with enough time to get a sufficient amount of rest.
Driving into work after a late night out can be difficult, but it’s doubly hard to work effectively from home without an appropriate amount of rest. You don’t have co-workers peering over the cubical wall at you in the office to keep you motivated to do work. You need to self motivate, and doing so when you’re at home can be hard enough when you’re not dragging your butt around the house.
One thing that I do is I have a nightly reminder on my phone that goes off 30 minutes before I should be in bed. This gives me sufficient time to turn down for the night to get a full night’s sleep.
In Closing
There are tons of other things that you can do as a company to make the transition to work from home a lot easier. It might be something I can perhaps share in the future. But in the meantime, I hope you find this advice to be valuable. If you have questions, feel free to comment below. And stay safe and healthy!