My 14 Top Tips for Working from Home
It is a wild time to be alive right now, period. If you are one of the humans who has the privilege to be able to shift your work or school from office to home right now, I can almost guarantee you’re figuring out this whole WFH thing isn’t quite as glam as you thought. Today I’m sharing my Top 14 Tips for Working from Home and hope you find these helpful! If there is absolutely anything I don’t cover or a situation you’re having a hard time with, drop your question below in the comments or feel free to email me and we can work together to make this WFH situation a little easier!
Create a Routine & Try to Stick to It! - Be like Gatsby and set up a routine for your days! Now, this doesn’t have to be the exact same Monday - Friday BUT keeping things in a routine is super helpful! For example, in my perfect world where I am totally perfect, this is kinda what my schedule looks like throughout the week when I work from home!
While I am rarely perfect, having a routine helps me stay on task, stay motivated and enjoy my work! A huge tip if you can’t do the same thing every day is to focus then on time/task blocking. All this means is throughout your day/week you pick a particular day or amount of time to do one task such as answering emails, getting on calls, working on draft proposals, running reports, etc. Everyone is different based on their industry but I promise you having a routine rocks and helps get you out of funks. Now, once you’ve got something put together, try your very best to stick with it. If you have little ones, a pet, get sick or something else similar, it can make sticking to routine extra difficult. Just remember, life happens. Give yourself grace and keep in mind routines or habits take around 20 - 30 days to form. It will take time but I know you got this!
Do Something Special Every Day! - It might be another work day but ensuring you take time to do “special” things every day will help make this transition or any future transition to WFH much easier. This can be taking 15 minutes to watch your favorite Bon Appetite Video, time for meditation, making your favorite iced coffee, taking that extra time to give your at home lunch gourmet flair, a quick at-home workout sesh. Whatever your special thing is- make time for it and prioritize it like you would the work you’re doing if not more. WFH can lead to feeling stuck, lonely, bored and exhausted. These small moments end up making a huge impact in your overall day and experience of working from home.
Use Video More than Usual - It might feel funny at first but if you’re going from face to face to strictly email it can feel like a lot is getting lost in translation (and transition). Using video communication on Google or Zoom is so helpful and will make you feel WAY better about what’s going on and keep human communication more normalized! Whether for work or not, this is a great way to also keep in touch with other humans! Set a time for a big ole group chat and catch up to help getting through this time when we’re more solo!
Business Up Top and Party on the Bottom - If you’ve never worked from home you may not be familiar with this BUT basically this is the unspoken rule of WFH employees. Be cute up top and wear pjs (or no pants) on the bottom. If the UPS guy comes, you can poke your top half out and sign for a package. Your meeting on Zoom comes up? You’re ready to go and look SO professional. You get the best of both worlds with this method and honestly its an insider secret of basically every blogger and influencer on the gram who focuses on their face in stories lol.
Stay Hydrated - This is something you should do no matter where you’re working BUT at home it’s super important to stay hydrated! Be sure to add water breaks into your day and remember - a cup of coffee or caffeinated drink DOES NOT count as water! Get your H2O in - you will feel much better and thank me for it!
Get Ready - Ok I 100% do not do this every day but when I do it makes SUCH a difference. You don’t have to put pants on (ok by maybe you should) but try giving yourself a routine to shower, do your skin care, makeup (optional), hair, get dressed (kind of) and anything else that is part of your routine. Getting ready helps ensure you’re not falling victim to never taking care of yourself. It might sound off but when you WFH it’s even easier to stay in PJ’s for days straight and just work your little heart away. Like I said, I certainly don’t do this every day, in fact not wearing makeup every day has helped my skin breathe a ton - but it can help if you’re in a rut and just not feeling motivated.
If You Share a Space, Set Ground Rules - Like many people, a lot of us share our living space with other people or pets and this can make working from home especially challenging. Whether they’re your partner, best furry pal, roomie, little one or family member it is super important to set down some ground rules and communicate. If you’re on calls that require quiet time, be sure to relay when those are and maybe suggest something they can do at that time that keeps things quiet. When in doubt, always keep yourself on mute (seriously my biggest pet peeve in online meetings). Maybe you need background noise while they’re on a zoom call for class? Opt for headphones! The point is, the more you talk and communicate through this and any WFH situation with the people (or pets) you live with, the better it will be!
TAKE BREAKS! - The research has shown it for YEARS - doing one thing for extended amounts of time (studying, working, etc.) actually makes us less productive! That being said, know breaks are essential - especially at home! It is so easy to have the day fly by when you don’t have the same environment that you do at work and you end up working your shift, if not a longer one, without hardly noticing. Be sure when you’re creating your routine you add in breaks of different lengths for stretches, snacks, meals, drinking water and to get those eyes off the screen! TIP: Swear you can’t take a break from screens? Be sure to wear Blue Light Glasses!
Leave Home (Kinda) - While we can’t really leave our homes now we can remove our selves from the office or couch we’re sitting in for a quick walk around the block or your apartment floor. Just getting up to stretch, do something different and get moving can help your body and your mind stay focused. If you do this at the office, try sticking to your routine as well but at home!
Ask For What You Need! - Working from home can mean that basically everything is an IM or Email and you might find yourself needing a little extra support, access to a report or really anything. Don’t hesitate to ask for help to get what you need. If someone makes you feel bad for it, they’re the worst and just do your thing. It’s best to be in the loop and informed than not! Additionally, if you find yourself doing way more than usual (this actually happens a lot when people shift to WFH) make sure to ask for breaks, not being on meetings or whatever else needs to happen to make you successful. The initial shift is hard and that’s ok!
Keep to A Dedicated Space - I unfortunately am still trying to work on this BUT it does help a ton if you can pick a place to work and stick to it. If you have an office or guest bedroom this is an ideal space to do your work. If not, try out the kitchen or dining room table, a spot in your bedroom or (like me) the coffee table. Keeping a spot specifically for work helps a ton when it comes time to close things off for the day and start things up in the morning.
Treat Yo Self - If you have a tradition of getting coffee every morning, wearing something comfy on Fridays or dressing even nicer on Mondays, keep it up! While your working environment might be different try to keep these fun traditions alive! You might not be able to get your regular order but you can learn to make it at home. In the future this will save you money and teach you a fun new skill (that could also be employable!)
Business Like Usual - If you typically were in an office or space with others, you might have special things you do together. Maybe you grab lunch on Thursdays or each week a different person grabs coffee for the team. While we can’t be out and about right now, we can still do those things just differently. Text your work friends, Face Time on Lunch, have a virtual Coffee Time. Those bonds were and remain important, especially when you work on a team! If you don’t work with a team, this is a great time to try incorporating more people driven interaction. Slide into the DM’s with your industry role models, hit up friends and snuggle your pet a little closer.
Get Real About Distractions - Contrary to popular belief, having Netflix on 24/7 when you WFH is actually kind of hard for a lot of people. If you want to have something on in the back, go for it but be reasonable. If you find yourself watching the TV more then you do getting through your work, consider opting for music or even nothing at all. Every day will be different so give yourself grace and try different things until you find your flow! TIP: Looking for a playlist? Here are some of my favorites to focus, relax, get hype, and have background tunes.
