Happy and productive during the pandemic? Or Better yourself?

 The second wave of the pandemic is truly upon us and it threatens to disrupt the relative return to normalcy, that we had since summer. And this time it may be even harder to deal with as the fatigue wears on with no clear end in sight. But at least we have learned some lessons as to how to go through this challenging time.

 Work from home and dispersed collaboration models are largely back. How do you maintain any semblance of quality work–life balance and keep the productivity up at the same time? Here are my key takeaways on this. Hopefully, you will find it useful and I will be thankful to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas. Sharing helps these days more than at any other time.

 1. Be here now for real – either you work or relax. Working from home poses the big risk of blurring everything – home tasks and habits get intertwined with conference calls and your kids running around during their online schooling “break”. You are neither home, nor in the office, and it may seem that nothing gets done, despite the fact that you are always “on”: always on emails, always rushing, always concerned. Try to designate time and space for work that separates you from home life. Try to dress for work if not highly formal, but at least mobilize for the occasion of doing business. Rid your home office of distractions that you would not have in the office. Try not to multitask with doing laundry while preparing for a call – you would not do that in the office. Think of this as a functional separation of business and home domains.

 2. Invent new rituals for transferring to business or home. There is an unexpected value in the commute. It helps us to gather our thoughts and plans and – it emotionally prepares us to “arrive” in the office and focus on business. The same goes for the end of the day – how do you close out the office day? What is your ritual – either you close the laptop or say goodbye to colleagues. Try to invent rituals that would help you emotionally “arrive” and “leave” the “office”, which may actually be set up in your living room. Maybe a quick walk in the morning? Or a change into home clothes after office hours?

 3. Be specific about productivity. The normal course of business has a usual, accepted way of measuring our productivity. Normal daily and weekly routines have a way of indicating how we are progressing either through deadlines, results, or sometimes mere signals of getting things done. But now that set of routines is taken away, we need to be extremely specific as to what it means to be productive. Try to set specific goals for every day, detailed tasks, and things to be achieved. Every morning ask yourself – what will make this day productive?

 4. Socialize like never before. Office life has that uncanny advantage of social interaction – having a coffee, mingling in meetings, chatting, making jokes, going for lunch, and so on. There is an immense value in this – for creativity, and also – just for feeling alive, feeling of belonging. Team calls and emails cannot replace that. Nothing can, to be honest. But at least you can try – call up your colleagues, spend some time just talking, do discuss that latest cookie bake or gossip. And share your feelings and ask how others feel – none of us are alone in this and support will get us through.

5. Do not postpone your life. You know how in those normal days we often dream of vacations or plan what we will do on the long holiday weekend. We always have new adventures and events in mind. The pipeline of how we reward ourselves and fill our lives in addition to professional accomplishments works. But not anymore. The uncertainty of the pandemic means that we cannot postpone forever. Planning a vacation for maybe 2021 or 2022 just does not help. So, try to live for now. Take up a new hobby, start developing yourself – learn a new language, or try out learning programming skills. Maybe just running 10 km per day instead of 5 km. You have an incredible possibility to create a better version of yourself! Achieve everything you dreamed, but never found time for that. A suggestion from my - start listening to Blinks during dinner time with your kids - it opens deep discussions you never imagined possible.

 Remember: you are working at home. Not living at work.

Good luck and hold on in there!