One thing is working from home for a week or a couple of days once in a while. You know all the essentials about getting up, shower and get dressed and you have everything you need at your home office to stay productive and connected with your team. But after two weeks straight and more to come, you will most likely get interesting quirks or even near-breakdowns. We have gathered some tips and tricks on how you can help yourself stay sane and keep a good work/life balance.
Schedule your day
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Set a schedule, including meetings, deadlines, coffee breaks and lunch. Define your working hours and make it visible in your calendar when you are available, in meetings or focused. It might seem overkill, but in the office it is more obvious than when you are sitting at home. People can not see if you are busy, trying to focus, taking a short break or talking with someone else.
Keep the work/life balance
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Spend the time you usually spend on getting to and from work on something to ease your mind getting ready for work or checking out. Read – maybe together with your kids, listen to music, watch an episode of a show, go for a walk, do yoga or meditate.
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Set boundaries and agree on a clear schedule with your partner or roommate so you both know when you have meetings, need to focus and when you have time for lunch and coffee breaks.
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Make sure your workspace is as separate from the main living areas as possible and keep it organized – keep laundry out of sight – and let family/roommates know that it’s your workspace. This way it’s easier to check in and out of work within actual office hours.
If you have kids*
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Many of us have kids who need entertainment, extra attention or home schooling. This will probably affect your work and you might experience that it takes more time to achieve the same level of quality – and that’s ok! On the plus side, you will very likely experience even higher quality and productivity when you get back to normal working conditions.
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Be patient and accept that these settings will never be as in the office. If you are two parents working from home, agree with your partner to do “shifts” according to each of your daily meetings. Try to separate this as much as possible so you can focus when you are working and 100% present with your family during breaks.
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Have lunch together and then go for a long nice walk when you both are off.
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Try to explain to your kids that you (and/or your partner) need to work and put it in a timeframe: “For the next 30 minutes, mom/dad need to work and can’t be disturbed, as soon as we are done, we will play a game!”. If your kids are too young they probably won’t understand it, but keeping a consistent schedule will help them become accustomed gradually.
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If it is not possible to stay in separate rooms, find things that your kids can “work on” next to you while you are working. Drawings, perls, simple board games etc. Or let them watch their favorite TV show or game on the iPad for a couple of hours.
*Disclaimer: these are of course only suggestions for inspiration. Working from home with kids is tough and what works today might not work tomorrow. Take one day at a time and find out what works for your family – you are welcome to share more suggestions!
This is a big change for most of us and it will require time, patience and empathy while we adjust. So keep these in mind and talk to your team about it.
Take breaks!
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Have coffee breaks, lunch, afternoon snacks, etc. and avoid eating any meal at your desk.
Exercise.
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Need inspiration or motivation? Check if your local fitness studio or favorite trainer offers online workout sessions on social media or download a workout app.
Change of scenery.
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When living and working in the same building you don’t get the natural change of environment as usual. Try to change it once in a while, go for a walk, chat with your family/roommate in the kitchen or to do activities outside when work is done.
Walk & Talk
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Plan coffee meetings, brainstorm sessions or just casual discussions outside the house. If it doesn’t require you at the keyboard, go for a walk-and-talk over the phone.
Enjoy and freak out, no one is watching
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Embrace the things you couldn’t do in the office – of course within reason. Turn up the music and sing your lungs out, do a silly dance workout, eat your favorite snack 5 days in a row, call a friend, play games during lunch break, chat with your kids/partner/roommate, etc.
Find the perfect background noise
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Background noise. Share your best “working from home” playlists with your team. If you are tired of music, turn on the radio or a TV-show that you already know. Completely silence can seem distracting, so put on some background noise to help you focus.
Simulate the office vibe
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Besides online chat platforms, you can ‘hang out’ with your colleagues through applications like Discord that have a built-on Spotify feature, so you can listen to music as a group. This is a great way to simulate the missed officevibe; listening to music and ‘having people around’ without necessarily interacting with them.
Connect and help each other
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Ping your co-workers regularly, share funny links, tell jokes, just interact, it will help you all stay sane, healthy and motivated!
Please feel free to share good and bad experiences that have helped you optimize your remote work!
