Tips on Working from Home due to Current Events

Many of people have telecommuted for a day or two due to bad weather or a business trip. However, working from home, day-after-day for the next few weeks seems a daunting task. Which working from home can be, however, I have found that the following tricks-of-the-trade have served me well over the past twenty years of working virtually:

Don’t go to work in your pajamas – whatever your routine is to begin work, keep it as close to the same as possible. Even if you don’t have any scheduled meetings, you still want to set an alarm, brush your teeth and get dressed. Your mind and your body are used to a certain routine for workdays versus weekends. Keep your weekday routine as close as possible to your normal way of getting ready and it will help trigger your mind into work mode....



Set aside a certain area in your home as your “office” – Personally, I converted a guest room into my home office which means guests have to sleep on the couch. Anyone in the house, even my dog, knows that when the door is closed, I am not be disturbed unless urgent, just as it would be if I worked in a corporate environment. Other telecommuters I know use the dining room table or their kitchen desk. In any situation, you need a space that is dedicated as your workspace, if at all possible, so your mind can focus. Sometimes, my spouse and I both need to work from home. When this happens, we both need our own separate work areas. We have found it’s the key to wedded bliss being in the same home, all day, every day.

Don’t go into the living room – Don’t even look at the living room until the end of your workday. This is the room that is fraught with danger. I have found that sitting in my comfy chair and turning on the TV is a recipe for disaster. In the living room, procrastination reigns supreme and getting back to work is a difficult climb.

Treat your kitchen like the kitchenette in your workplace – During the day, this is the place where you might get your coffee, possibly warm up lunch or take a break. This is not the place where you should stare at an open fridge, or hang-out for the day. Set a schedule for yourself just as you would at the office to plan breakfast and lunch, go to the kitchen for these meal breaks, whether you take mandatory breaks or when you reach a logical breaking point in your work. It is also during these breaks that you can allow yourself to check messages, texts and posts just as you would at a regular office space. Try to keep the checking of non-business-related messages to a minimum while you work or the next thing you know, the day is gone, and your work still sits.

Honestly judge your ability to multi-task – I know telecommuters who can do laundry while talking on the phone with a client. Others keep the TV on as background noise. I’m not one of them. I do my best to limit distractions around the house to an absolute minimum. Sometimes I might treat myself to a longer lunch while I do a couple errands, or have a baseball game playing in the background when I don’t have a deadline but these tend to be rare because I find it difficult to start the day over again once I’ve stopped working. The key is that I’m honest with myself about what I can do and what will cause me to lose focus.

Overall, it takes a certain discipline to treat your home, where normally you relax and do chores and instead treat it as your office space. However, once you get the hang of it, you can enjoy that your commute is just down the hall and you may even find that you want to work from home.

Based on feedback via Facebook etc - here are some additional tips on working from home:

From my friend Deb:

Great article, Marianne! Having working from home for the better part of 12 years, I totally agree with all your excellent tips! I’m guilty of working in PJs too often - if I go to my desk early to answer one email, I usually end up stuck there for the rest of the day. I think the biggest challenge is to stop working at a reasonable time. Working from a home office has many perks (no commute!) but it has its challenges. In this strange time we’re experiencing right now, the feeling of isolation could be more prominent than usual. I rely on after work social events to combat it - not currently a possibility.
(Although since the original posting, Deb has graciously found a way to have a group of us meet via a video conference.) 

From my friend Craig:

’ve worked from home for a very long time. My first working from home activities were when I first moved to Virginia, so I think that would have been 1992. We communicated by AOL and through a 9600 baud modem.

I continued the same in the UK.

Some tips...

Get up. Shower. Get dressed as if you are going out to work.

Pretend that you just have a super short commute and “switch on” just as you would when you walk through the door in the office. I used to walk through a closed door into my office and close the door behind me.

Get on whatever chat software you have and see who is online. That is... “in the office.” Just say hi and chat for a moment just as if you were greeting them in the morning.

Take breaks outside the “office” space but don’t linger any longer than you normally would in the office.

Imagine how much time you are saving not commuting and what you can now do with that time. Go for a walk. Do some exercise. Cook a more complicated meal. Whatever!!!!

At the end of the day, make a point of shutting down your computer and don’t go back to it. Paying attention to separating the environments is even MORE important when you work from home.

Enjoy!

Craig

Hope this helps you stay safe, healthy and proactive in the coming weeks.

Marianne Reid Anderson

President
Maritom, LLC
www.maritom.com