Tips on How to Manage Working From Home
During the Coronavirus Quarantine
A pandemic situation. Whole cities are on lockdown. Thousands of people are forced to leave work, and thousands of people are forced to work from home.
If you´re not used to working from home, it can be very challenging to manage yourself, your time, your responsibilities when you are suddenly obligated to stay at home.
When leaving the house, it creates more of a routine. Also, going to your work space, is something you are used to and know how to manage.
This time can, therefore, be a big disruption in your routine, and it can be difficult to experience.
Juggling home errands, kids, working next to people that are not your colleagues and have entirely different jobs to you, the consequences of this whole situation…it can definitely be overwhelming!
So, here are some Tips to manage your work from home a little better:
- Wake up at the same or almost the same time as you would to go to work
- Shower in the morning, to get you activated
- Wear clothes you´d go out in the street with. Maybe not necessarily a suit, but don´t stay in your pyjamas every day for 2 weeks.
- Have a good breakfast, we all know it´s the most important meal of the day!
- Find a place in your house where you will work from. Whether that´s the kitchen table, a corner of your sofa with a small table in front of you, or obviously an office if you have one. Stick to it. Make it your work space for the next few days.
- If others are working in the house too, choose your designated work areas and respect each other´s space.
- Ask to not be disturbed. It can be easy to be distracted by others living in the house with you. So, let everyone know that this is your work time and that you need to focus and cannot be disturbed. (Obviously this applies when possible. In the case of having small children at home, it´s clearly more difficult.)
- Set a timetable. i.e. The time you start working, the time you pause to have lunch, and the time you stop overall. Respect and stick to it. It´s easy to be carried away and continue, since you don´t have to ´leave´ your office now to go home.
- Plan what you want to do when you finish work. Have something to look forward to, and to also keep you from working overtime.
- Take advantage of the non-commute and the time you gain from it! Add it to your free/leisure/family/me time!
Daphne Christofides
