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For many people, the corona virus quarantine presented a unique opportunity to work from home. We’ve cobbled together a few tips to help you out with that.
Stay in Touch! Be sure to IM, email, chat, telephone or otherwise keep in contact with your team and your supervisor. Turn the video on during video meetings, follow up with notes or questions via IM or email. This keeps you visible and clearly productive to anyone in management who is still skeptical about people working from home.
Create your Work Space! We like to recommend that people dedicate a specific space in their home (even if it’s just a corner of a room) that is as distraction free as possible so that you feel more like you “left” the house and “went to work.” I keep a lamp in the corner of my in-home office. When thatlamp is on, I’m working. At the end of my work day, I turn that lamp off to signal to myself to let. work. go. for the day.
Take Breaks! When I work in the office, I leave the building for lunch every day. One reason is to check on my dog and let her out for a bit but the other important reason is to clear my head for a while. Working from home, I tend to just dart into the kitchen, grab some food, and get right back to work, eating at my desk. I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that I take at least one long break, to walk the dog, participate in a Zoom-hosted exercise class, do a little yoga. Give yourself resets throughout the day to keep yourself fresh. Using these breaks to move around keeps your circulation going, which keeps your metabolism cranking, and helps prevent blood clots and other problems like deep vein thrombosis.
Take Care of Your Spine! Practice sitting with good posture and make sure your workspace is ergonomic. This means your wrists shouldn’t be bent at odd angles all day and you should be able to look at the screen straight ahead without bending your neck up or down to see.
Also, it turns out, office chairs are sold with sitting ratings. My office chair is very comfortable and adjustable in all the areas where I need adjustments, and it’s rated to be supportive and comfortable for 8 hours. It will cost a little more, but it’s so worth it when you get up after sitting for a couple hours and your body isn’t stiff and locked into position.
Keep the Trains Running on Time! By that we mean make up a schedule and stick to it. Or it could be a new routine (things happen in the same order every day, but not necessarily on a strict schedule). Point being, it’s too hard to separate your business and personal life if you’re hopping on to check email at all hours of the day or you can’t sleep so you log in to get some work done. If at all possible, stick to a strict work time/play time schedule. It helps tremendously when it’s time to shift focus from work to personal responsibilities.
Stay Hydrated! Just as you would in the office, sip on water throughout the day to keep your skin feeling supple and to help you feel energetic as well.
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