Tips For Working From Home
Me every morning right now: Gooood morning, good morning! We’ve worked the whole night through. Good morning, good morning to you!
I’ve been working remotely for several years now. In that time I’ve come to realize the distinction between working from home and working remotely. Working remotely could be anywhere with Wi-Fi. Home is where laundry, food, and 1000 distractions exist. There’s also no real distinction between work time and literally every other moment in your life at home.
Given all those very normal issues with working from home, I’m writing this for the unfortunate situation many of us find ourselves in right now. Working from home because you have no other choice. Thankfully (sure, we’ll go with that) I have been in this exact situation before. It can be done!
Tiny backstory (very short I promise) on my previous stuck at home situations. During both of my pregnancies there came a point when I couldn’t sit up. I could still work lying down though! There aren’t any coffee shops, restaurants, or libraries I’m aware of that will allow you to lie down. My couch became my office. Later I found myself working from home with a baby. Thankfully this was during a phase I like to refer to as “hangry potato”. He would stay happy while eating or being worn. That combo made it incredibly difficult to work from anywhere outside the home. I did a lot of baby wearing and standing to type for about a month.
Today’s situation is obviously different in so much as it feels that all options are off the table. There are a few ways that works in your favor. The biggest difference is that almost everyone in your workplace is dealing with similar issues to yours. With my personal example it is an unfortunate fact that not everyone can relate to a pregnant woman’s struggles. Luckily for you, your co-workers are all trying to understand their VPN, Zoom, Webcam, and Slack setup at the same time you are. Use common tribulation to communicate with one another and reach out to management.
On an individual level, if you feel that more flexible work hours would be helpful to you, speak up! No one is commuting so why not work that extra morning hour if you’re a morning person or a later evening hour if you hate mornings (hi new bestfriend!). I’m a fan of core hours when your company has to have meetings. Having to decline meeting requests because you’re not going to be online can be stressful. Core hours can save everyone from scheduling headaches. They also kind of give you an idea that the work day does actually end.
Your office space, whatever it is, should be somewhere you can work for several hours. Interruptions due to sunlight on your face, people randomly talking to you, weird noises, dogs unplugging your power cord, the smell of food you could totally be eating, and singing appliances should all be avoided as much as possible. I find headphones really helpful. Even if they’re not noise cancelling they can offer something else to focus on. If you can, work somewhere that has a door you can close.
The last bit to discuss is how much ambience is suddenly missing once you stop working around other people. To make up for that I sometimes put on YouTube or a movie in the background. Anything that’s mildly interesting without hampering my productivity. Think first half of Cabin in the Woods versus the action packed last half. Kenny G music versus a livestream of his boardgame, Kenny G: Keepin’ It Saxy.
I hope some part of this might be useful. My current situation doesn’t even allow me to follow everything I suggested. I’m actually working a lot more in the evenings. Flexibility is really the best way I’ve managed working in a more isolated environment. You will find your own strengths to create solutions for your work from home obstacles.