Hey team,
A lot of you will be getting to grips with the prospect of working from home when you haven’t done in the past. It can be tough to adjust to, especially with schools also being closed, but having been a home worker for the last 3 years I’ve discovered some simple tips to help keep myself as productive (and sane!) as possible and wanted to share them with you.
1. Find yourself a place to work
The most important boundary you can set up when working from home is to give yourself a dedicated workspace away from the usual hustle, bustle, and distractions of your home. If possible, it’s best to set this up in a quiet, comfortable room with some natural light, and not somewhere you usually relax, like your bedroom (or on the sofa).
The added benefit of doing this, is that you can physically separate it from your personal space, allowing you to shut off from work stresses at the end of the day and focus on family and relaxation.
It’s also best to try and replicate your usual workspace as much as possible: a desk and a sensible chair, for example. Your employer should be able to provide you with any additional equipment you need to work effectively from a home office.
2. Set boundaries
Having a separate home office might not always be possible. Even if it is, it’s important to set boundaries with your family and other people you live with so that everyone knows that when you are at your desk, you’re on work time and not the resident jar opener or playmate.
This can be tricky, especially if you have children at home, so try to plan your day in advance and set expectations with everyone. If you need more support, let your employer know and they can try to help you, perhaps allowing you more flexibility with your hours.
It’s also important to set some boundaries with yourself, first and foremost…
3. Stick to a routine
This begins as early as setting your alarm clock for the next day. Try and keep your morning routine the same as if you were heading to where you normally work, even though it can be tempting to roll out of bed at five to nine and shuffle to your desk in your pyjamas!
Get up at your normal time, have a shower, get dressed, and have a nutritious, filling breakfast (check out FenFit Nutrition on Instagram over the coming weeks for some recipe ideas and cook-alongs). All of this will help to get you mind and body ready to hit the ground
running when you get to your desk. You’ll even have some extra time because of no longer commuting; you could fill that time with something productive and fulfilling like doing a morning workout, meditation, or sorting out that bit of DIY that you’ve been putting off for months.
When it comes to your work schedule, try and keep your start and finish times consistent and take a regular lunch break each day. This will go a long way to preventing the lines between work and home becoming blurred and, as with the separate work space, will help you shut off from work stresses at the end of the day.
4. Keep in touch with your colleagues
Working from home can be a lonely endeavour even if you have people staying at home with you, you’ll not be able to pop your head around your desk to ask a quick question, or have your usual catch up over a cup of tea. One simple way to get around this is to set up regular calls with your team and/or your manager.
Some workplaces are even encouraging “watercooler chats”, a 15 minute call with the whole team but work related chat is off the table, it’s purely social. This can help keep team morale and motivation up, which can drop off quicker than you’d think when you’re feeling lonely.
Video calling can also be helpful when you’re working remotely, rather than just voice calling. Seeing familiar faces can help stave off feelings of disconnection and applications like Skype, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams are being used by organisations up and down the country now to keep teams in touch when they’re working remotely.
5. Don’t be a desk potato
This is good advice even if you’re not working from home. Taking a short break (5 minutes every hour) is really important if you’re a desk worker and/or using a computer all day.
Not only does a short break divide up the monotony of sitting all day, it’s a valuable break for your eyes from the strain of focusing on a computer screen. Getting up and fetching a drink of water, or a coffee, can help to refresh your mind by focusing on a different task, if only for a few minutes.
Just moving more often, even whilst at your desk, can also help alleviate things like muscle soreness and stiff joints associated with being sedentary for long periods. Head over to Own Your Range (@ownyourrange) on Instagram where Sam will be sharing mobility tips and routines that you can implement at home – you could even use your extra time, saved from your commute, to work on your mobility.
6. Get outside!
When you work and live in the same four walls, it can be very easy to forget to head outside once in a while. I’ve been guilty, on occasion, of getting to the end of the day and realising that I haven’t even unlocked my front door from the night before, let alone stepped out of it.
Being shut indoors for long periods can have significant mental health impacts and the documented benefits of being outdoors and in nature are numerous; from improving your mood to boosting your immune system. Even just spending some time in your garden – maybe with the coffee you made on your screen break.
Even if you’re in self-isolation you can venture out and take a stroll, so long as you take the appropriate precautions and maintain safe distances (2m) from others. Going for a lunchtime walk can be great to give you a kick of endorphins (feel-good hormones) to help you get through the dreaded post-lunch slump.
These are uncertain times where everyone is going to have to adapt to new ways of doing things – working, learning, staying healthy – but as a community we can all adapt and overcome whilst supporting each other just like we do at the box every day. I hope that these tips help some of you to get the most out of your new working arrangements and if you have any other advice, feel free to pop it in the comments on Facebook.
In the meantime, look after yourself.
Dan