In this blog, what I really want to talk about is working from home, what my rituals are as far as working remotely, and some tips that I can definitely share with you as far as how you can be productive and how you can stay focused working from home.
I have actually have had a working-from-home environment for about five years now. I do have an office as well that I do go to on a regular basis. Of course with COVID-19 and as far as social distancing, many of us right now, practically all of us are right now, are not in our office. We are working remotely, and this is a brand new thing for us. I mean, some of us, even though it’s been about a month, it’s still a tough adjustment to have working from home and as far as going to an office. So I wanted to share with you guys is just a couple tips as far as what I have done to make myself productive and make sure that I stay focused and obviously that I have a complete and full work day working remotely in this particular area. If you guys are excited about hearing this, please give me a thumbs up. I’d greatly appreciate it.
1. Create a routine. What do I mean by that? You need to have a certain time where you’re working, because you are actually on the job and you have to act like you’re in the office. So create your own routine as far as working is concerned. What do I mean by that? Number one, don’t do laundry and work at the same time. Don’t try to iron your clothes and work at the same time. Don’t try to watch your favorite television program at 11:00 and try to work from home. It does not work that way at all.
One of the great benefits, of course, is when you do pick your routine, you actually can have a lot of flexibility as far as when to work, and that’s a great thing. Some of us are night owls, some of us probably would prefer to maybe take the morning off, maybe work from 12 noon to 8:00 PM at night, or even later, from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Either way, whatever works for you and what’s going to make you more productive? For me personally, I’m actually more of a morning person. I actually usually I get up at five and get my run in, which is what I’ve been doing instead of heading to the gym, and then and by 6:30 or 7:00, I’m on my laptop and I’m actually working. I’ll stay usually probably between 7:00 and 5:00, 5:30, that’s pretty much what I’ll do. Then after 5:30 I’ll have my time where I can relax and just chill out with Carmen or something along those lines. You definitely have to have a structure and a routine put in place.
2. Another way to be productive is get a designated workplace to work. I am right now sitting at sort of like an office in our house. It’s one of the bedrooms that we don’t use. We don’t have a bed in here. I have a desk, I have my laptop, I have my monitor set up in here. Also, I have a little couch, a little loveseat couch that I could just sit down. Sometimes I’ll sit on it if I’m taking a conference call and I don’t need to get on the computer. I’ll do that once in a while, but other than that, I don’t use that too much, too often. I am right here. I am not in my bed and I’m not on the couch. Those are places that I do not work at.
This place, as far as this designated area, I rarely ever spend time here when I’m actually at home. Usually when I’m at home, obviously I’m sleeping, I’m doing laundry down in the laundry room, or the kitchen, eating, or I’m in the family room watching television or doing stuff like that or entertaining. This area right here, this is my solitude and where I work and where I get my things done. It’s sort of like reporting to the office as far as I’m concerned. Yeah, so definitely like I said, definitely have a designated area.
One other thing I will say, if you don’t have the capacity to have a room like this, kitchen is not too bad. I sometimes will work off my kitchen table. I’m able to distinguish between eating there and being able to put my laptop there and get some work done there and sometimes I like to do that. One of the things I would highly encourage, if you’re a little bit compulsive like me and look over and you see dishes in the sink and you and it’s driving you nuts that they’re there or in the drainer or whatever, clean that up, get that done. Get that complete and cleaned up before you start your work day, so that’ll keep you more productive at least, sitting in the kitchen. Like I said, do not sit on the couch and do not sit in your bedroom. Those are the two places I highly recommend that you definitely don’t sit and do that.
3. Dress, is to dress appropriately. As far as me, I’m comfortable in a T-shirt, in a pair of jeans. I’m okay, I can still be productive. For me, as long as I’m in this gear or something more, then I’m fine. I certainly do not wear my pajamas to do my work. I don’t roll out of bed, just come rolling down here and try to get work done. Some people actually have to go as far as putting on a suit in order to work effectively at home, and that’s okay. It gives you that mindset that I’m here, I’m productive, when I’m productive, I’m wearing this. That’s okay and that’s not a bad routine. For me, I’m okay. I can deal with T-shirt and jeans and work, but if you’re one of those people that can’t, then I’d certainly recommend that you dress up normally. Take a shower in the morning or in the evening before and get going. Get dressed up and start your day doing that way. Whatever suits your style and everything like that.
4. Take breaks. What do I mean by that? Usually, after 25 minutes or so, your focus starts to wane. Somebody can stay really completely at a peak level, peak productive level, and it’s usually sustainable for 25 minutes. What I’d recommend, after every 25 minutes, if you can, if you have the capacity to do this, is take a quick five-minute break. That just means stand up, stretching, taking some deep diaphragm breathing, or just doing some mini squats, or whatever can get your body moving. Definitely take that quick break, take that quick five-minute break to yourself and try to stretch out a little bit. Maybe grab something quick to eat or something like that.
Then of course, you have your lunch and you have your maybe extended breaks too. Those are not bad to take as well, especially if you cannot get away after 25 minutes if you have to take a call for an hour or if you have to work something and you need a complete hour or two to focus on one thing, definitely take a longer extended break of course. Like said, take your lunch. Definitely eat food that is obviously going to be nourishing and that’s going to give you the energy to get you through the day, just like you would in a normal work circumstances like that.
Definitely, like I said, I hope things are going well for all of you guys as far as professionally is concerned, that you still are remaining productive, and that obviously personally, even more important, that your health is great and your family and friends are doing well during this complete difficult time. I know things are really, really hard out there. Every time I turn on the news it’s just continued bad news. Of course, whether it’s going on with a COVID-19 and lockdowns in major cities like New York and Boston is continually to get hard now, so definitely, please, please, please, obviously practice social distancing and be smart about it, and please take care of your health and take care of your family.