Working From Home Fundamentals

There are some really important, very basic things to get right from the start.

These simple top tips will ensure that you are not only productive, but that you continue to feel positive and motivated when the novelty of working from home wears off!

I’ve been working from home for over ten years. Punctuated with twice weekly visits to London to see clients face-to-face and trips to Europe every quarter. But trust me, that’s long enough to have tried various ways of working and I’m hoping that what I’ve learned along the way will help you out, as we settle in to an unknown stint of solodome.

Tip 1

Environment

Create a designated space for working. Even if you’re working and living in the same room, separate your ‘living’ space from your ‘working’ space. You could use a couple of plants as room dividers, a book shelf or back of a sofa to define the two spaces. You could hang a temporary curtain, wall hanging or even purchase a room divider. The important thing is that you DO NOT work from your bed or sofa.

Once the novelty of reclining while you write has worn off, your back wont thank you for the hunched up hours you’ve spent leaning over the screen. So, decide where you’ll sit while you’re ‘at work’ and create a space that inspires you and feels organised, ready for business.

Tip 2

Dress to Impress

Even if it’s just for the cat, or your reflection! Make sure that you maintain daily hygiene habits, like washing, cleaning your teeth, getting dressed. You’d be amazed at how many video calls I’ve had where clients new to working from home, haven’t done the basics of self-care. This is really really important.

How you treat yourself will translate into the work that you produce. So let’s make sure that you show yourself respect and care, that you pay attention to details and expect a good standard of care towards yourself each day. This kind of self-care ethic will cross over into your work ethic as time in isolation goes on.

Tip 3

Boundaries

Most people work MORE hours when working from home. This could seem like a strange phenomenon, but when you think about it, it’s easy to see how stopping can become tricky. You’ve no train to catch, you’re not picking up the kids, or popping to the shop before it shuts… There’s nothing to stop you beavering away into the wee hours.

Decide, or agree with your team, what hours you will work. Perhaps you stick to a classic 9 – 5 slot. Maybe you break it up 10-1 then 3-6… whatever you do give yourself a start time and a stop time and STICK TO IT.

Fatigue and resultant mental health issues spike in people who fail to set these kinds of boundaries. So Keep Your Head Healthy by creating specific chunks of time for work each day.

Tip 4

Stay Connected

Keep as much ‘face-to-face’ contact as you can over the coming weeks. Because we’re deprived of in-person interaction at the moment we may lose the sense of belonging to a team, or meaningful connection to our clients. So it’s vital that when you can use video calls/platforms, that you use them. The difference between reading an email from someone and seeing their smile or facial expressions when describing an idea or giving feedback is enormous.

Good communication is absolutely key at the moment. We must be vigilant about maintaining healthy relationships with our colleagues and clients (to say nothing of our friends and family) much much more on this later in the week.

Get a good balance between being in touch regularly enough to feel up to speed, but not so regularly that you can’t get stuck into project work or work that requires longer periods of concentration. I go into this in more detail next week with the Productivity Ninja blog.

Tip 5

Food for thought

Make sure you eat well. Taking breaks will be helpful for your mental stamina and also for your physical health. You need to eat well while WFH with some thought given to what food will work best throughout the day to maintain concentration levels.

We’ve got advice about the best food for thought next week so keep your peepers peeled for that!

The most important thing to remember for now is to take breaks, get up, go and make a drink or some lunch. Use this time to take a few lovely deep breaths, let your mind wander, listen to some music that peps you up and shifts your mood or energy levels if you’ve been at your work station for a while. Now isn’t the time to let healthy eating go out the window, our mental and physical health are more important than ever. So eat something nutritious.

#keepyourheadhealthy #WFH #isolationworkstation