5 ways to thrive WFH
As we are in the midst of lockdown 3.0, and back to working from home with schools now closed until at least February, I thought it would be useful to share the things I do to make working from home a positive experience!
Depending on where you are living, this is either easy or difficult to achieve but, it does make a difference if you can create an ‘office/ work space’ for yourself. Initially I was working at the dining table and having to put my ‘office’ (laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, docking station and all wires) away at the end of the workday and during the workday every time we needed to eat! It was challenging. I found that I was less productive and that I struggled to focus. I now have a desk, albeit in the not so ideal location of the actual kitchen, but having my own space has made a huge difference for me. I do have to let others in the house know when I have meetings that I cannot be disturbed during, and of course I don’t always remember and indeed, neither does my partner but it mostly works! It also means that I am not carrying my work around with me to different rooms. Working from bed is a big ‘no no’ in my eyes, and if you can avoid it it is better not to work from your bedroom at all. If you do have to work at the dining table, then sectioning off an area just for you for the workday would help, and trying not to sit in the usual position you sit when you eat may also help create some differentiation between being at work, and being at home!
Also if you can add some items around the area to personalise it - like some pictures, or some nice stationary that is just for work - this will make it a space you enjoy coming to to work.
Hydration is key! If you are dehydrated you will feel exhausted, and in a brain fog. Nothing in your body is working optimally when you are dehydrated. There are apps you can download to remind you, buy a giant water bottle and sip from it all day, or keep a jug on your desk and plan to drink - whatever suits you better to make sure you get that water in. My daily goal is around 4 litres. This is my own personal goal. I aim for 8 pint glasses (European pint glass) - or I substitute 1 pint glass for two cups of tea (herbal tea with no milk or sugar/honey added). Working from the kitchen I also really have to make sure I am not drinking coffee all day! I love coffee - the taste, the smell, everything - I would drink it all day long! I have managed to reduce my coffee from 6-7 cups a day (I know - my poor tummy) to 2-3 cups a day, aiming to reduce to just one cup!
You can check out some other benefits of water here.
Try and establish a morning ritual rather than falling out of bed, brushing teeth with your eyes closed, and turning up laptop before you have even woken up properly! That is not setting you up for a productive day - and presumably that is not how you were rocking up to the office before you moved to WFH!! I am not suggesting you have to get up, put on make up and/or do your hair if you don’t feel the need but getting up 30 mins to an hour before you have to start work to have some time for yourself will set you up for the day. If you have homeschooling to do, it can also be good to get up before the rest of the house just to prepare yourself mentally for the day ahead! I am sure getting headspace at any other time of the day would be a real challenge.
You could maybe do some stretching, or a quick yoga session - there is a free 10 min morning session from ‘Deliciously Ella’ here and it is my go to! It really gets rid of all the kinks, and you feel so energized afterwards. Or have a coffee without your phone, and just take some 15 mins to be with yourself & your thoughts.
Note: Sitting and drinking a coffee while scrolling on Facebook or Instagram doesn’t count! Sorry!
You can also check out my self are morning ritual here.Take a proper break for lunch! I know, I know - this isn’t always possible! I work with teams in the US as well as Europe and not everyone is mindful about organising meetings that make sense for all time-zones; and sometimes it is just not possible to accommodate everyone! Also there are times when I forgot I had to cook lunch (as opposed to heat up some soup, or make a sandwich) so by the time lunch was ready I had about 5 mins to eat before heading to the next meeting.
During this lockdown we have started to plan lunch and dinner for the week and this really helps! We know what the menu is everyday (it really cuts down on that looking into the fridge trying to work out what you can make with 2 eggs, a courgette and smelly cheese routine)! We also take turns with sorting lunch during the week. If there are 2 adults in the house and a clear menu plan each day, there really is no excuse for one person being responsible for lunch every day! There may be days that are an exception but it should be that!
Breaking for lunch is so important - Forbes did a great article you can see here which goes into much more details.
Turn off when you finish! This is especially important if your ‘office-space’ is not in a separate room. As I am in the kitchen, it is so easy for me to just leave the monitor on with all my work stuff open so I can just keep an eye on my email, or Teams in case anyone needs something… and it is completely unnecessary. I know how important it is to have boundaries in place with work; and ultimately I am setting an expectation that is not in line with my desire for better mental health at work ie. demonstrating to my manager that I am available all of the time! As a leader myself I check in on my team if I see they are working late consistently and make sure that it is not becoming a bad habit but, I now see that I need to improve on leading by example! There will always be the odd day where there is an exception and you need to work late, or keep an eye out for an email but that cannot be the norm!
It is important to switch off at the end of every day - I like to think physically turning off the computer helps me to mentally switch off from work too!
So tell me what you think; if you have any additional tips I might have missed, or let me know if you implement any of these and how you get on!
Stay safe out there!
Sho xxx