Five steps to help you work from home.

March 16, 2020

I’ve been working from home for over 10 years, and this is how I do it.

As we find our world in an unsettling pandemic crisis with a new coronavirus, many of us are scared, overwhelmed, confused and scrambling to figure out how to make all of this work in our lives—from home. I am grateful that our family members are all still well. I can’t imagine how hard it is for those dealing with the illness already.

We are all staying at home and isolating ourselves as much as possible. We’ve been on lots of walks through a nature preserve nearby and only leave the house for absolute necessities. My husband is working from home, our daughter is schooling from home, and I’m working from home as I always do. Today is our first homeschooling day with all of us here, and, happily, so far it’s going well!

I’ve actually been working from home for a long time, now, so I’ve figured out how to make it work for me and for our family. When my daughter was born I went from a full-time Creative Director position directing a team in an office to freelancing by myself from home. At first it was a bit of a transition, but I eventually got into a groove. And now I’m so comfortable working from home I never want to go back to an office again. And working from home has now allowed me to transition to a second vocation as a painter. Now I both paint and do graphic design in the same space.

I’ve found a few key points help me get my work done each day while keeping my sanity. So I thought I’d share what I do in the hopes that it might help at least one person make the transition to working from home a bit easier.

1. Start by setting up a comfortable dedicated work space. 

Ideally in a separate room. I’m grateful that I get the basement to myself. So, not only do I have my own room, but I’m also separated from the rest of the house by a floor. Granted, my space is a bit of a mess right now, as it always blows up in the middle of a painting. But at least it’s blown up in my own domain.

I know most people won’t have this luxury, especially with the whole family at home, so my advice is, at a minimum, find a space where you can block out others visually (facing a wall or window) and use headphones to block out the noise. Blocking out distractions is key for me.

2. Set a daily schedule.

Determine a start and end time for your work day. And don’t forget a brief rest for lunch and snacks. Then stick to this as much as possible. 

These days you’re also probably home-schooling, so set up a schedule for that, too. You’ll need to be flexible at first and allow for changes to happen daily until you’ve figured out the best groove for the family. We set up our daughter’s schedule yesterday, and it’s already changed. LOL. But we’ll figure it out in time. Give yourself grace, too, as this is a difficult time in so many ways, and it’s ok to take some time to figure it all out. Take it a day at a time and change things as needed.

3. First, plan your day. 

When you first sit down to work check your emails and voicemails, review your work to-do list and come up with a plan for the day. Determine how much time you’ll spend on each task and time-box. That way you can make progress on all that you have to do. Planning your day first thing will help settle your mind so that you can make progress while staying on task throughout the day.

4. Focus and use your work-brain or your home-brain, but not both.

When you are working, work. Ignore everything else that is on your home to-do list. That has to wait. Focus on work. And when you're “off” work, ignore work and focus on home life only. Frankly, this was the hardest part of the transition for me. I’m the kind of personality that doesn’t like to leave things unfinished, so I found myself often feeling a strong pull to just do that one last home task before getting to my work. But, I found that I have to force time-discipline or one thing will lead to another, and I never get to work. 

For example, to help keep me on task during the day, I even try to have lunch and snacks prepared in the fridge, so that all I have to do is plate my food and heat it up. And as I walk to the kitchen, I ignore all the undone/unfinished things in my house that I pass along the way. I ignore the pile of mail on the counter, the laundry, the dishes, the scattered toys, the random shoes in the middle of the floor, etc. I have found that I need to focus only on getting my lunch, eating and returning to work. I go to lunch with blinders on. Often I even leave my dishes out on the counter. That can wait until I’m “off” work. If I don’t stay focused on work during “work hours”, then quickly I find my time is gone, and I go from one random home task to another and never actually work.

Now, in our current times, we’ll have to be more flexible with all of this because the kids are schooling from home and our partners are here, too, but this is at least the goal.

5. Review and plan your next day.

Right before you “clock off” each day review your work day. Note what you finished and note that which you didn’t. I like reviewing what I do each day so that I can feel a sense of accomplishment for a day of work well done. And I like to review that which was left undone so that I can plan my tasks for tomorrow. Writing these down gets work off my mind, and that helps settle my mind so I can move my brain into home mode.

My hope is that all of us now working from home can find our new groove and eventually feel comfortable in our new normal. It’s a trying time for all of us, but I’m hoping we can find some light in all of this by learning new ways of working and living. I hope my suggestions help at least one person in a world of upheaval and transition. 

I’d love to hear if you have found other tips that help you stay on task when working from home. 

Sending love, light and peace to all of you. Stay healthy, friends!