How to manage work and create a new norm from home under uncertainty?

We are all experiencing emotional roller-coaster at this stage; there is always news about the global pandemic and economic tsunami that feeds our dramatic instinct.

Quite a lot of people who are forced to work from home for the first time, and there are people have worked from home for a while, and a bit both, it’s all blended in. 

However, work under crisis and uncertainty can be daunting and emotionally challenging. We are socially active creatures. Isolation for a few weeks or even longer might cause psychological issues. Living in an economic-based world, that reminds me of the quote from Predictably Irrational, "Think how hard physics would be if particles could think”. We are the particles, we think and feel, which leads to an interesting outcome in terms of the economic cycle.

I hope the following tips will be useful to go through a hard period. Pretty sure everyone has their creative way to reward themselves. 

Positive attitude

Just like butter, you can never have too much positive attitude during the crisis, but staying rational is vital. It doesn’t mean to shout out loud how positive we are but to apply the approach in execution by gradually achieving things that matter to us, and we believe will be the good cause post-crisis. 

Set goals

Based on the attitude, if you haven't set any clear goals, now it's the time! We have no idea how long the crisis or the uncertainty will last, or it will become the new norm, and what the world will look like (I think it’s going to be great with the rising of community economy). 

Create a self-rewarding system

You are allowed to have some chocolate, sweets, comfort food and a bit of alcohol, or do workout. We'd like to be rewarded when comes to accomplish tasks, but when we opt-in and out from one meeting to another, then followed by emails and messages, who is going to give us that mental treat after we establish a proper engagement with our peers online, being productive via emails and messages? Maybe tweak the mindset a little bit, any cheerful gift from others are great, treat them as a bonus. Fundamentally, self-rewarding would improve our self-awareness during downturn and uncertainty. 

Maximise online communication skills

The cash flow doesn't look positive, and we need to input our energy and effort into the communication flow. Keep making connections, build or enhance networks. Try to avoid standard group messages, tailor the message for different audiences. We are all working in people business nowadays, communication and leadership skills will not be exclusive just for the middle and senior management level; they will become basic skills for everyone, make empowerment real! The emotional intelligence will leverage the outcome once comes chat online, via short messages, writing long articles and record your video. You need to present yourself to the audience who share a similar value to you.

Motivate others 

I have been talking to small and medium businesses in my town lately, understanding their worries/issues, and listen to them let the negative emotions out. Unfortunately, there is no direct cure or solution will solve the mass scale economy instantly. The silver lining is we have survival instinct as a species; we learn from the mistake, adapt and evolve.

Work from home is not easy under the usual circumstance, and it's even harder when the global crisis is due. However, we need to support each other to go through the baby step.

Extra Points:

If you are both working parents and experience self-quarantine. My suggestion is to try to include your children in your working routine, treat them like co-workers with additional brief, training and mentoring.

Take more mini-breaks, I found some people realise that productivity has increased in certain degree due to minimal travel required. However, take shorter breaks to prevent yourself from burnout. 

You might find that the boundary between weekday and weekends is a blur, take the advantage to spread out the working hours.

I am open to chat if there are any issues related to virtual team management and financial challenges under uncertainty.

Two excellent books for consideration (non-advert), maybe read them when you are a bit calmer.

Predictably Irrational

Good Economics for Hard Times

Originally from www.funkeyb.com