Top tips for working from home
Are you facing the possibility of working from home for the first time? No doubt you are feeling excited about the prospect and have romantic ideas about how much you’ll get done around the house and how much free time you’ll have. Well, the reality is, that until you get the hang of it you will possibly find yourself unproductive on the work front, distracted by household tasks that need doing, and feeling a bit depressed because you’re working in your PJ’s until after lunch!
For the past 4 years, I have been balancing working from home and a co-working office space. It took a while to get the hang of being based at home, so I thought I would share my top tips and tricks with you all.
Get up at your usual time and stick to your morning routine
This is my number 1 rule when I am working at home. It would be so easy to treat the day like a weekend day and have a lazy start with my coffee and a book. I find that getting up at the usual time, showering, dressing for the day and eating a healthy breakfast, makes me feel like I am heading off to work. I get dressed in tidy clothes and avoid wearing my activewear all day.
Work your normal office hours
I start work at the same time every day, regardless of if I am at home or the office. This sets boundaries and keeps me on track. I also take lunch at 1pm every day, which helps me to keep a steady routine. If I do take some time in the day to go for a walk or a surf, I make sure I make that time up by working an extra hour or so at the end of my day.
Schedule in your breaks & time for exercise or household tasks
One of the perks about working from home, is that you can get the washing done, tidy the house or go and exercise in the sunshine instead of later on at night in the dark. I definitely make the most of this opportunity! However, I learned the hard way that I need to set designated time aside for each of these, or else it can consume your day and before you know it… it’s over! My typical day at home looks like this;
8:00am start work
11:00am coffee break
1:00pm - 3:00pm lunch and a walk (or a surf if there’s waves!), or household tasks if they need doing
3:00pm - 6:00 / 6:30pm work
Stay connected to your team
You can feel a bit out of the loop at home, and as a result, you might over communicate - which can be counter productive. Figure out a way to keep in touch with your team and ask quick questions when you need to. At Frame, we have x2 team Zoom’s per week, and use Zoom or Facetime for any other quick meetings. We also have gmail G-chat for quick questions that don’t require an email and we have an end of day call to wrap up the day.
Set up and pack down a work area
It sounds silly, but I tidy up my home office at the end of each day and then “pack up and leave work”, (which means I close the door to my office until the next day). This physical act helps me to switch in and out of work-mode and helps me to wind down at the end of the day. If I work upstairs at the dining table, I pack up my things when I am finishing up and take them downstairs and pop them away.
Good luck!!
Rachel,
Director of Frame.