More ways to win at working from home

So it's official, we've got a coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. is essentially closed for business, and we're supposed to practice "social distancing" (a horrible addition to the lexicon, by the way). It's going to get worse before it gets better, and for many of you that means your temporary work from home stint will turn into an extended assignment.

I'd like to help you get the most out of the experience with ideas, pointers, tips and hacks that have helped me get the most out of mine. In my last article, I shared three tips for taking the worry out of working from home: Make a Friend, Forget About Time, and Get Outside. Let's add three more:

Shed the guilt.

In the early days of working from home I felt guilty for doing personal things during "work" hours. Picking up the kids from school? Guilty. Walking the dog? Shame on me. Making coffee? Clock's a tickin'. It hasn't been easy but I've finally come around on guilt. I'm cool with taking time for me, whenever that may be - because I get work done.

If you get the job done, you'll earn the confidence of your employer or client, and there's no better guilt-killer than that. If you're still worried about time, remember you're probably working more than you realize (and you're not even commuting anymore). And you'll find yourself working during the hours that you're naturally productive, not when the clock says you need to be, so you'll be more efficient.

Laugh at conference calls.

Working remotely means depending on conference calls (and occasionally video conferences) to get your job done. But we all know that most calls barely get off the ground. There's the one person who can't dial in properly, the lurker eating pretzels and forgetting to mute their phone, the guy on speaker and causing delightful echoes and feedback, and the regional team dropping off for no apparent reason. Add to that the effects of slow broadband, firewalls, and VPNs and it's no wonder our calls are a mess.

Fact is, it's going to happen, again and again. So why fight it? Instead take comfort in knowing that countless others are suffering in exactly the same way. And next time you hear the organizer say "Can whoever's on speaker mute their phone?" recognize that hundreds, maybe thousands of remote workers will hear those exact words today. If that's not funny I don't know what is.

Get a standing desk.

Let me wrap this up with a more practical tip. I freely admit that standing desks have become quite trendy, and it almost embarrasses me to say that I have one. But I do and I love it. Sure, it forces me to stand and work (which as far as I know is marginally healthier than sitting and working), but the real reason I like it: space.

My standing desk is almost the same size as the traditional desk it sits on. When it's lifted (and it's always lifted) it frees up almost all of the desk space below it so now I effectively have two desks in the space of one. Which is far more space than I ever had at an office, but in a smaller overall footprint. So for those of you who don't have a lot of space at home, the standing desk might be what you're looking for.

Like these tips so far? Not so much? Either way comment below and let me know your thoughts about working from home.