How to work from home

As the new coronavirus continues its romp around the globe, more and more of us are being asked to work from home. Working remotely is not easy. But there are ways to help you cope and keep you sane. Here are five tips. 

1. Get dressed. It may be tempting to roll out of bed and blob over to your laptop in your pyjamas. You might even be tempted to stay in bed and work from there. But this is a trap. If you’re dressed for sleep and slumping around, then your mind will slump too. So get up, take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed. If you don’t get ready for the day, then the day never really starts. Instead of working from home, you’re just at home, trying to fit in the odd bit of work.
    
2. Have a workspace. The cardinal rule of home-working is: set boundaries. And that applies to your work space too. Do not work from the bed, the couch, or the futon. If your options are limited, at least have a coffee table to use as a desk, or anything that keeps your laptop out of your lap. Keep your space separate and tidy. This is an aid to concentration and also helps you avoid turning your entire house or flat into an amorphous space where you’re always on the clock, but also kind of not. It’s no way to live.
    
3. Go outside. We no longer have the option to visit a coffee shop to provide a change of scenery and provide an excuse to get some fresh air and a modicum of human interaction. But at the very least, take a short walk a couple of times a day. Sitting down all day is terrible for your health and mind-numbing when you’re staring at the same four walls all day.
    
4. Check in with colleagues. You will inevitably miss the impromptu meetings and side conversations that are a part of office life. So use email and social-media services, and even the phone occasionally, to check in with work colleagues, even if it’s only to chat about trivia. It helps to remind people you’re still there.
    
5. Shut it down. What you may miss most about office life is the commute. That may sound unhinged, but for all the traffic and crowded trains and unpredictable weather, at least it provides a clear separation between when you’re at work and when you’re not and some time to relax in between. When you work from home, you don’t get this separation, so try to find a way to make it. So, turn off notifications, set-up a home gym, even a basic one, and figure out a way to maintain some work/life balance.

HOW TO THRIVE IN THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES

As part of the government's business support package announced last week, we have been awarded funding to deliver our acclaimed 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme "live and online" to help those now working from home. This 10-week programme will start on Wednesday, 1 April 2020 at 4pm with a one-hour lesson covering "change" - as this would seem to be an appropriate starting point. Other lessons will offer cutting-edge insights into resilience, wellbeing, motivation, teams, communication, strategy, influencing, effectiveness and self-awareness. READ MORE

The above leadership tip...
was sent in response to a question from a participant on our acclaimed 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme and adapted from How to Work From Home Without Losing Your Mind by Brian Barrett. Whether you're a first time manager or an experienced leader, straightforward, practical advice on best practice is hard to find. Until now. To find out how you, your team or your organisation can benefit, please join us on our next complimentary WEBINAR or CONTACT us.

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