Working from home tips

[julian2002]

This isn't my list - I copied it from another forum I belong to but I've been working from home for 10 years and agree with most of these.

• Shower every day
• Put on real clothes
• Get out of the house at least once a day
• Have a routine and revel in it
• Get started early and as much off your plate as you can, but still take breaks
• You can work for 90 mins and take a 30 min break and that’s totally fine now as you control your timeline, of course scheduling will force this to be flexible
• Use the time you save from the commute for well being
• Work out, meditate, whatever it is add it to the routine
• Cook more! One of the huge advantages is how much healthier and better you can eat now and you can prep or plan meals the day before to really maximize the time
• Don’t let friends distract you much, unless it’s lunch breaks
• Don’t leave tasks for the last minute, I fall victim to this and it causes undue stress
• Build a killer workspace, something you enjoy sitting down to
• Keep it tidy! Easy to get distracted when it gets messy
• I also recommend a decompression toy of some sort for your desk, something to flip in your hand when pondering, bored, video conferencing, etc. - fidget spinners are the entry toy for this, try an infinity or fidget cube for something more tangible
• Keep a master list of todo’s, separate your professional and home ones but tackle them both
• Ensure you have a professional line of sight for your webcam for video-conferencing
• Also make sure that your workspace is quiet for those meetings and aren’t going to have a lot of feedback or noise that draws your mic on a lot
• Best to keep the workspace out of the bedroom, bed in view is never good for perception as being a place to work
• Don’t be late for video meetings! Expectations are higher when you’re WFH that you’re available, do the extra when it comes to communication and even commenting in Slack throughout the day gives a slight perception of engagement that can be beneficial
• Figure out the best routine between work time and chill time, but have plenty of chill time
• If you have a lot of at home distractions ensure they are controlled and everyone involves understands that certain times of the day not to be interrupted, managing expectations in the household during work hours becomes an integral part of WFH the larger the family is
• Have a stoplight for family members so any interruption can be quickly culled
• Many are challenged by the lack of social interaction, forge your own and organize social interests and meet with co-workers or ex-colleagues for lunch more
• Some people can handle the white noise of daytime tv, sports talk or whatever else but make sure it’s a positive and not a distraction
• You can now really incorporate music to help focus! If that’s for you consider tailoring the type or genre of music to the tasks at hand like something intense for cleaning your inbox but then some ambience for focus based stuff
• Pets are great for little petting breaks and they love the added affection
• Start using your laundry as a timer, by pairing the duration to a task and you’ll notice you will accomplish the task in under the time more often
• Finding your flow when WFH is very valuable, especially if you’re able to replicate your new ability to get in that zone but at the same time it’s important to control how much your produce from home so expectations don’t get out of whack that you’re now a valuable 24/7 grinder and you’re over-tasked
• This one is mine: Treat any requests to do chores or errands during work hours with the contempt they deserve, it's a slippery slope.

[Hammond]

Great tips, cheers.

This might sound like a weird one but I make sure I put shoes on. Something in my brain clicks as I often just wear socks or slippers round the house.

The 90 mins / 30 mins thing is interesting as well. I find I get distracted more easily at home but the periods where I'm working, I'm working far more intensely. I've observed that it averages out to broadly the same productivity, and so I no longer get worried that I've been distracted for a while (I can't do music though - makes me stare in to space while listening).

[snowman]

I don't agree with all the comments in the OP (nor does the poster, so that's fine ), but many of them resonate with me and I've been working from home a good deal of the time for well over a decade.

I find I get distracted more easily at home but the periods where I'm working, I'm working far more intensely.

I get distracted more at home if I have little to do, but if I'm busy there's LESS to distract me (no moronic football chat over my head during a conference call, no quick trip to get a coffee turning into a 30 minute moan about things/flirt with Jemima from accounts - although I rather miss that one, etc). The positives are, sometimes, I fill the quiet spells with useful chores about the home, rather than pretending to look busy for the boss...

I always try and refuse conference calls between 1 and 2 PM - People like to schedule this slot, but I'm sure it's a smokescreen in many cases to make you believe they are so important that they only have their lunch hour free to talk to you. I'm not a slave to routine, but having a break (and a walk outside unless the weather is truly vile) for lunch is one I try and stick to most days.

Something that applies to work in an office or home, but don't automatically drop something important you're doing because the phone rings. I always advise clients to contact me via email firstly for a number of reasons.

First, I may be on a conference call, but able to respond via an email while listening in.

Secondly, I may be in the middle of something important and/or complicated - If it was for that client, would they want me to drop it to talk to someone else about something trivial? No, of course not. Thirdly, things take exponentially longer if you keep breaking off to do 'just this small thing' in between - Finish what you're doing and then respond to the email.

Finally, if you're working with others, their time is valuable, too, if you break off to take another call or do a small task for someone else, what are they supposed to do?

If clients INSIST on calling, let it go to voicemail - They mostly get the message in the end...

Obviously, some ways of working don't allow that, but if yours does, you'll get a lot more done.

There are exceptions to every rule (even my own!), but I find these help me, along with many of those in the OP.

M