Productivity Tips #2 – Working From Home (WFH)

Since the lock down began due to coronavirus, I’ve had to change the way I work and the way I interact with my team. I’ve found that some people have enjoyed the freedom and flexibility, whilst others have found it challenging and boring. Many are still struggling to adapt.

There are 5 key elements to brace through this period:

• self-discipline
• positive mindset
• taking care of your health
• developing a new life style and habits
• Be proactive and stay connected with your colleagues and loved ones.

This post provides some tips to help those that are struggling with the change.

1. Re-create your daily timetable, merging your work and personal schedule

Taking charge of your schedule and deciding when you work seems pretty obvious. However many people are still trying to do it all, with the lack of child care making it incredibly challenging for many parents to maintain their strict 9-5.

You need to figure out when you can fit everything in for the day. Include your work commitments, personal tasks, family chores. By keeping a schedule you don’t need to maintain the mental load of figuring out what you should be doing and when. Make use of the eisenhower matrix I discussed in a previous post to help you prioritise.

Identify the most productive hours during the day and plan the most important tasks to get done during those hours. Personally I’m not much of a morning person and prefer to do any significant tasks in the afternoon. However I’ve found that my daughter tends to sleep through the morning, and if I get more things done at that time, I’ll be able to spend more time with her in the afternoon and evening when she is awake.

Changing our existing habits is one of the hardest things to do. Home was where you went to relax away from work, and now its followed you home! Mindapples has a great pdf on how to go about changing your habits.

2. Spend some effort to setup a proper home office

A good home office can really help you maintain focus on the task at hand. Try to separate your professional and personal areas by carving out the physical space, it may be as simple as a table in a quiet corner of a room, or for those fortunate enough to have the space an entire study area.

Invest in your equipment. Get a proper headset, so you don’t crane your neck on the phones. Especially if you have a lot of meetings in your diary. Buy a monitor, stop looking at your 13-inch laptop screen, it was great for travelling and occasional wfh, but for working for an extended period, maybe it makes sense to get something bigger.

You’ll be spending a lot more time at your desk, make sure you have a good desk chair and foot rest if needed, alternatively invest in a standing desk. All important choices in keeping a good posture.

3. Open and transparent communication with your team

In general most people are understanding and try to be more empathetic towards each other during this work from home period. Be open and honest with your manager and team members around any limitations and constraints you have when working from home. So that they can help support you to be as productive and efficient as possible.

As a manager my one to ones feel like they have taken on even more significance. Without being able to take body language into account, assessing colleagues mental health as well as physical health is even more challenging. Don’t be afraid to explicitly ask them how they are feeling about the situation and if there is anything you can do to help. Quite often just speaking about problems can be enough.

One of our teams has adopted virtual coffee point times in the day and setup zoom calls for colleagues to meet up and talk. Topics have ranged from what is your work setup, to what is in your fridge. This could be a great opportunity to learn more about your colleagues, and to bond as a team.

4. Adopting a positive mindset, with positive distractions

Think about some of the things you have been longing to do when you have the time at home, now you have the chance, take action!

For me personally, I’ve been wanting to start a blog for many years, without a daily commute and with family to help with my daughter. I have sufficient time to write a few posts. I am also incredibly grateful to be able to spend much more time than I expected with my daughter at this age.

Try to see some of the positives this change in lifestyle has brought to you, it may even shift your values/beliefs, such that you may want to start thinking how you can maintain or enhance those positive impacts long after covid 19.

5. Take regular breaks and get some fresh air

Make sure you block your calendar and set some time to relax, refresh and recharge. Especially as you don’t have your normal lunch breaks. It is so easy to pop into the kitchen and grab a bite as you continue to work. Get up, stretch your legs, maybe try this 5-minute home office workout from Nuffield Health.

It can be easy for your workday and personal life to blur when your commute moves from 50 miles to 5 metres. Our commute gives us an opportunity to prepare for work or home life, and that context switch time has now all but disappeared. Some of my friends have found it helpful to have a different routine for those commute times. Such as taking kids for a walk or doing some exercise before you start your work day or home life.