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At the beginning of the week, the work-at-home lifestyle is amazing. There’s no commute. You’re wearing your favorite sweatpants. And you’re drinking more coffee than you know what to do with. By week three, you’ve been working late from the couch with a stiff neck and haven’t talked to a living soul since Tuesday.
The solutions are often simple and include ten tricks in total below, plus some standard pieces of advice that I’ll be quick to dismiss.
It doesn’t have to be an official home office, so long as you sit down there to work regularly. Your brain will know what time is what, and it’ll help you get into the working mindset. Likewise, if you can manage it, you should avoid working in your bed: bad posture will ruin your back, and you may also be tempted to use the bed for sleeping at odd hours.
Without a commute, your workday becomes unstructured; you can counter this by deciding on what time you’ll start and finish, and ensuring you inform your colleagues. The latter is far more important, as people working from home become inclined to work until the evening, particularly if they are new to the set-up; the laptop tempts them to stay longer than intended, but is generally unhealthy.
You don’t need to look like you’re going into the office, but you also don’t want to lounge around in your pajamas Getting dressed is an important step in the transition to the working mindset and sets you apart from lounging around the house.
Make sure your screen is level with your eyes, your feet are touching the floor, and your elbows are at right angles so that you put a minimum amount of stress on your spinal column. Working at a laptop on a stack of books with an external keyboard and mouse is not hard to set up and well worth your time and money in the first week of working from home; the alternative is that you spend a few months with constant back and neck pain.
Write down what two or three important tasks that have to get done the following day. It will prevent you from wasting the morning checking your email and give direction to your efforts for the day. Keep it short: a to-do list of twenty items is a surefire way to feel overwhelmed.
Try to get up every hour and do something else. Go eat your lunch somewhere away from your desk (ideally go for a walk) to help get unstuck if you are stuck on something. You can’t really multitask if you’re working from home so using your mobile phone as a way to switch between tasks won’t cut it, as you eyes and brain never leave the screen.
While at the office your coworkers can see when you are working, but when you are working from home they cannot, and so you have to communicate your busyness. Say when you are leaving and coming back to work, or when you are going to be gone for an especially long time. I find that most people I know don’t really care when you are working as long as you are getting your work done by a certain time.
If you have other people at home who can distract you, set some ground rules: a closed door or the use of a headset implies that you are unavailable for questions and conversation If you are often at home alone, but you can’t help being distracted by external sounds, a good set of noise-cancelling headphones is an invaluable investment. Music can sometimes be a source of distraction, so consider instrumental soundtracks or white noise as a way to fill up space in your ears.
Working from home can make you feel lonely, without you really noticing it Arrange a conference call with a fellow employee on a non-work-related topic once a week, or take up working from a co-working space or the library now and then Organize social plans for after work hours. The more you work from home, the more difficult it will be to break the pattern, so don’t leave it too late.
There is nothing worse for a first-timer than to lose their internet connection abruptly just before an important call Make sure you know how to use your mobile phone as a tether in case of an emergency, but also know what data plan you are on so you do not end up spending a fortune. If your job relies on being online, ask your employer whether they can sponsor a better plan or provide an alternative.
There is no need for a home office to work from home successfully. Most first-timers I know work from their small bedroom setups without even having a second room to host meetings. Similarly, while it is useful to have a separate working wardrobe, you do not have to spend hours every day getting changed if you are going to work in your living room in “pyjamas.” Productivity apps are another unnecessary hassle: keeping a notebook and a calendar is often enough, while a new app will add to your list of things to maintain. Finally, the pressure to constantly be online to prove that you are working is unhealthy and counterproductive: being productive and communicating clearly will carry more weight with your superiors than the ability to check your emails at 3 a.m.
It depends on your contract, but the threat is that you’ll overwork yourself, so it’s best to set a finish time and stick to it. When your workload threatens to push you past that time, talk to your manager about it and not quietly work extra hours.
Limit the number of distractions: turn off your phone notifications, close other tabs on your browser, and keep your task list short.
In addition, in terms of home distractions, set ground rules for when you can and cannot be disturbed with your roommates, and avoid spending time on household errands during work hours (unless they’re actually errands, in which case you should schedule them for later).
A chair, or at least a seat cushion, is necessary, but the two other things that make the most difference are a laptop stand with an external keyboard and a headset. Ask your employer if they can sponsor any of these.
Loneliness should be combatted by adding more social interactions to your routine. Schedule a coffee chat with one of your colleagues, or try working from a co-working space or a library every so often. A short walk outside can also help.
Yes, and the sooner the better. Managers are often in a position to help their reports if they know something is wrong. If you only try three things this week, make them a finish time, a proper workspace, and a correctly positioned screen.
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