5 Tips On How To Make The Most Out of Working From Home
It may be surprising to learn that we actually spend more time working from home and behind our computers than we do out shooting…
So over the years you can say we’ve become professional #WFH-ers and have amassed a few tips and tricks to make the most out of your time and space. Working from home definitely sounds like a lot of fun— and it surely is— but it’s easy to underestimate how many distractions you’ll have or how difficult it actually is to be productive in a new space! We know there are a lot of people out there working from home for the first time because of social distancing, so we have a few suggestions that we wanted to share to help you make the most out of your time at home.
Continue reading below for more…
1. Give yourself a separate office space
Working in your bed is fun every once in a while, trust us we know, but on a day to day basis it’s important— nay key— to have a separate office space. Whether it’s an actual office room in your house or simply setting up on your kitchen table, having some sort of separation will help you be more productive and give you a little balance between your work and home life.
A personal example- when Ethan & I (Stef) used to live in a house with friends we had all of our stuff in our room with our work desk positioned a few steps away from our bed. I spent most of my days getting up in the morning and going straight to our desk to look at emails, open our spreadsheets, and continue editing all before I brushed my teeth or even left our room (I had to pass our desk while getting out of bed). This was also the same for the evening; I had a lot of “let me just finish this up and I’ll hop into bed” moments, or even worse was when we would get a longer email that I would open on my phone but then say “actually let me just jump on my computer to read this… well now that I’m here let me just respond… and I’ll just write up this contract and invoice… now let me update our spreadsheets” and on and on and on.
Having separation, especially from your bed(room) will help you unplug at the end of the day— metaphorically and literally as you’ll actually have a physical space to walk away from— and it’ll overall help you feel good while working from home!
2. Schedule, schedule, schedule!
It is unbelievably easy to get side tracked being at home and— as I’m sure lots of people are now finding out— to have to your days blend together. Give yourself a weekly schedule of tasks or goals followed by a daily breakdown. If too much structure isn’t your thing just remember to schedule in key things like: a lunch break (!!! the most important thing to schedule!!!), time to go for a walk, time to stretch (because hello you’ve been sitting down and likely slouching all day!), if you have home chores to do schedule some time for those as well! This will help give structure to your day as well as keep you on track for both the work and home things you have to do.
Here’s an example: 9-10AM Zoom call, 10-12PM continue working on project, 12-1pm lunch break (cook, eat, clean up time), 1-2pm put in a load of laundry, walk dog & fold laundry, 2-430pm finish up project, 430-5pm stretching & walk around the block, 6pm sign out of everything and have a glass of wine
3. Change out of your pjs!
Much like working in your bed this is definitely fun and sometimes needed every once in a while, but on a day to day basis changing out of your pjs and into fresh ‘work’ clothes feels soooo good! We know you’ve seen the memes about wearing jeans around the house (guilty as charged as I write this right now) but I cannot even begin to describe the sensation of wearing fresh clothes after being in the same pjs for a few days. And fresh ‘work’ clothes doesn’t mean wearing the same clothes you’d actually wear to work it can be a different pair of pjs, a pair of daytime sweatpants or yoga pants, a different daytime sweater. Whatever you want, as long as it’s new! This will also make putting on your PM clothing much more comfortable ;)
4. Have a morning routine
Don’t jump right into work when you get up. I repeat louder for the people in the back: Do not jump right into work when you get up! Stick to your normal morning routine: get up, get dressed (see above), have your breakfast, prep your lunch, scroll through your phone then get to work. Being in the same space day in and day out can feel daunting so making time for yourself is more important now than ever. If you’re someone who usually gets up and runs straight out the door, think about starting this new routine!
A personal note on this- Ethan & I (Stef) both work and live together day in and day out, and while we wouldn’t trade our life and jobs for the world it can be tough sometimes! It has taken us a while to find a good work/life balance especially when our work is our life at our home. Something new that I’ve been doing is waking up an hour before Ethan so I can have my own morning ritual by myself; to get up at my own time, to get ready at my own pace (so we’re both aren’t fighting for the bathroom then one or both of us is/are rushed), to make my tea and scroll through my phone without interruption, etc.
5. Be kind to yourself!
Working from home normally is one thing and working from home during a global pandemic is a completely different thing so if you are not using this time to work, workout, write your book, recode your whole website, or be productive in any capacity, that’s ok! We’re in weird time friends and there’s no rule or law about actually doing things. If you need to spend a week doing the bare minimum for your job and then spending the rest of your time on the couch binging Buffy from beginning to end (me!) then go for it. If you need to be active everyday in one capacity or another, do it! If working on things— real work things or make work projects like reorganizing your whole house— is something you need to do to keep your mind off of the existential dread of the world, then do it! Give yourself space to do whatever you need to do to get through this, in whatever way works best for you because everyone is different and what works for you isn’t always going to work for someone else.
Be kind to yourself, be kind to others. We’re all in this together. We can’t wait to see you on the other side!