My Secrets to Working From Home.

I've worked from home, in a home or extremely close to home for 18 years since 1999 (couple of years in a classroom, office or behind a bar), Search Engine Journal (which was founded at a kitchen table) is a native virtual company as is my digital agency, Foundation Digital (which was founded at a coffee shop). Combined both employee 60+ people, who also work from home.

I have been reading some of the tips out there that people who are new working from home should follow.

Here are mine and what works for me:

1. Work in clothes which are comfortable for you. No, if you're working from home you do NOT need to dress in the same ridiculous attire that you used to wear to the office. That's just wrong thinking. One reason I've enjoyed working from home for most of my life is to not deal with that BS. Work in what YOU feel are the most comfortable clothes. PJs? Sure, if it suits you. Shorts? Yep. Tuxedo? Ok ... fine. You be you, just make sure that you wear something clean. And if you want to work nude, be my guest, just lay down some paper towels on your chair or something to soak up the grease.
2. Take a shower. Yep, you might feel tempted to roll out of bed and begin working, which is fine. But for me personally, I never feel completely awake and 100% attentive until I bathe and brush my teeth. You need some kind of ritual to get into the work zone and in my opinion, this is the most important.
3. Be accountable with your family / roommates. You're going to want to lay down the line with the people you live with. My rule is if I'm on the computer (specifically my work computer) then I'm working. If my office door is closed, I'm on a call, don't come in. Make sure you stick to these rules yourself. Don't tell your wife/partner/bff/kid/roomie that you're working and then they look on your computer and you're watching meme videos or arguing on Facebook. Make your work devices your work devices and your work time your work time. You'll all feel better for it.
4. Work where you are comfortable. I spend a couple of hours in my home office, especially for meetings. Sometimes I work on the sofa. Sometimes at the kitchen table. Sometimes on my phone in the bath. Whatever works for you. Again, you do you. Just make sure that everyone around you realizes that you are actually working.
5. There is nothing at all wrong with eating a spoon of peanut butter for lunch or in between meetings (as long as that peanut butter is properly refrigerated).
6. Make time for friends and family. You're not the only person home (some of you) and you have other people dealing with the same anxieties that you are, so make time for them. Cut out an hour in the morning, lunch and then evening to just do normal family stuff. Watch TV. Take a walk. Play Madden. Whatever.
7. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise. The gym might be closed right now, but your body is not. Move around during or between meetings. Take a walk. Punch a bag. Go for a swim. Get that body moving and blood flowing during the day.
8. Don't freak out if there is noise in the background during a conference call, it happens to everyone. You're not going to lose your job or a client over background noise, unless that noise is you flushing the toilet.
9. Water cooler talk. One thing initially I hated about having an office and staff in the office was water cooler talk. At first I resented that people were chatting and wasting precious company time around the water cooler (literally, which was kind of funny) but after a while I began to realize that human interaction is normal and if these folks were spending 1/3 of the day in the office, they need to socialize a bit. If you're new to working from home then this may be the biggest void in your day. Luckily, we have Facebook Groups for chatting and arguing now, and I also highly recommend the Remoters.net Water Cooler on Discord: https://discordapp.com/channels/688374281003991059/
10. Drink water. Drink coffee. Take bio-breaks. I see nothing wrong with telling people on a conference call that you have to take a one minute bio-break to drain out all the liquids you're expecting to be drinking over the course of the day.
11. Do not sleep with your work device. If you work from your phone, then don't check email within one hour of bedtime. 
12. If you have insomnia, due to sleeping with your work device, then check it. If you can't get back to sleep, get up and work. Just remember the next tip.
13. Take a nap! Take a nap in the afternoon if you can, even for 15 minutes. It will revive you. If you can't sleep, try laying there for that period of time, eyes closed and meditate or whatever you do to clear your head.
14. Speaking of clearing your head and back to exercising, while I personally do not use a certain time to meditate, I do so when lifting weights or practicing martial arts or stretching. I like to think that I meditate in action during these times, the ability to focus on one simple challenge, like a body movement, instead of thinking of several things at one, is a great rest on the brain and you'll think yourself for it.
15. Use your newfound 2 to 3 extra hours in the day to do something cool. Learn a new language. Spend time with your kid. Learn a new lifeskill. Read. Sitting in a car and commuting sucks, you won't want to do it again.
16. Once this Covid-19 scare is over, get out of the house and move around. One of the traditional beauties of working from home is the ability for home to be anywhere. I take a lot of workations, meaning I'll work on location when visiting a client for a few days, take the time to see sights in the city, take my family with me (my wife is also a WFH'r) and balance time when traveling between touristing and work without missing time away. SEJ was started when I was living in Brazil. It grew when I was living in Japan. I have helped run Foundation Digital from Russia, Monaco and Vancouver while my business parters have been in Israel or Mexico. Travel is a passion and the ability to work in Marketing (another passion) while pursuing various passions is a blessing, and believe me ... once this is all over I plan on being at a cafe, beach or event somewhere where people don't speak my native language; and working away!