Stay Productive & Sane During the Quarantine with these Tips on Working from Home

In the fight against coronavirus, most companies have gone virtual, but many professionals admit they're struggling to adjust to the 'new normal' of Working From Home.

It's no wonder. These are extraordinary circumstances we're living through during an unprecedented global pandemic. Stress levels are shooting through the roof. Fears over potential health and economic hardships have all of us in a panic.

It's hard to get your work done under these conditions. Making it more complicated, for some of us, our kids are home climbing the walls while we're trying to focus. Our spouses are Zooming in the in-laws over the lunch hour when we have scheduled, virtual work meetings.

Let us all recognize that even the most seasoned veterans' best-kept-secrets for WFH won't necessarily work at times like these. But as a person whose office has doubled as a guest bedroom for the past five years, and who has also had to adjust to working in 'the new normal' right along with you, I thought I'd share my best tips on maintaining sanity and productivity during these trying times.

Impermeable Boundaries

No. 1: Set clear boundaries for the people in your house, at your job and in your life so that everyone is aware and respectful of your work time versus your personal time.

No. 2: Brush your teeth every morning, shower at least a couple times a week, get dressed in real clothes, fix your hair, and act like you’re going to the office each day even though you’re just opening your laptop.

No. 3: Create some ritual to transition between the beginning of the workday and when you start working, and the end of the workday and the resumption of your home life. This transition time is in lieu of what is, for normal people, a commute. It could be anything from a short meditation or a few yoga stretches to a walk around the block or a shower. It’s essential to turn your work-brain on and off and shift toward mentally prepping for things like needy kids, pets or spouses.

No. 4: Keep all of your work-related papers, binders, folders, cords, USB ports, etc. in one designated place, not spread around the house. It’s too easy to let your brain switch into work mode if your stack of files is sitting on the sofa.

Organize Ahead of Time for Optimum Focus

No. 5: Take walks when normal office mates might be hanging by the water cooler. Note: walking meetings, even over the phone, are THE BEST for drumming up brilliant ideas. Sunshine and fresh air can jump-start motivation almost as well as a good cappuccino. If you’re lonely, listen to a podcast or call someone you’ve been meaning to get back to while you get your blood moving.

No. 6: Play background noises like the cafe sounds of friends gathered that are offered through coffitivity.com, to help you feel like you’re among other people. Or listen to binaural beats on YouTube for better focus and productivity.

No. 7: Refuse to answer social calls during the day while you are working. (My dad is famous for ‘popping by’ just because he’s out and about and knows that I happen to be home and thinks I have all the time in the world for a leisurely lunch with him when, in fact, I’m busy working. So, when friends or family members call in the middle of the day expecting to chat about nothing simply because they know you are home, remind them that you are on the clock, have a deadline, are in the middle of work, or that you’re otherwise not free to just hang out simply because you’re in your home. Don’t be hurtful, but remind folks who need it of that boundary you’ve set.

*Pro Tip: If you have a hard time being firm about this, invent a fake coworker to blame it on, the one who keeps bugging you about that imaginary slide deck you've gotta get done. "Sorry, Dad, it's Karen again...I gotta go!"

Keep Away from the Fridge

No. 8: Stick to designated meal times during your day. Allow for normal levels of snacking, but just because you’re close to leftover pie in your fridge doesn’t mean you should nibble on it throughout the day.  

No. 9: Try to pack all of your work in within a few hours. Recognize how much time your old, routine day at the office had been spent: A) just getting there, B) chit-chatting with co-workers, C) checking email, D) breathing easily because you’re finally away from your kids and can afford to take deep breaths, E) setting up or breaking down for meetings, F) stepping outside for fresh air, G) walking somewhere to go get lunch, H) actually eating lunch, I) spacing out at the 2pm drowsy time, J) making your way home. All of that time is gone now, except preparing and eating your lunch, so you hardly need a full 8-hour work day anymore (unless it’s crazy deadline time). With those rituals now gone, you should be able to get your work done efficiently and quickly, eliminating the need for that full eight hours.

No. 10: Leave the dishes in the sink (until your work day is done)! Unless you are extremely disciplined about doing just a little bit of maintenance cleanup during your lunch break, you must resist the urge to clean your house. It’s a major distraction, but you have to behave just as you would if you weren’t there: pretend like the clutter, dust and dirty laundry is miles away, and deal with it after work. 

Go Easy on Yourself

Bonus: Log off your computer and stay off at the end of the workday, unless you absolutely must check back in for some reason. It’s far too easy to check work email incessantly or to sneak in a review of some report here or there when our children actually need us—when they need us to read them a book or give them a bath—or when dinner should be getting prepared, or when our bodies need to sleep or when our partners need some TLC.  

*Pro Tip: Don't be afraid to schedule some lunch hour Quality Time with your partner, if you're both home working and the kids are otherwise occupied.

Seasoned workers-from-home, myself included, will tell you they/we have all, at some point or another, mistakenly allowed our personal and professional lives at home to bleed together. What resulted was productivity coming to a complete stand-still, strife between ourselves and our spouses or children, and stress, physical, spiritual and mental health imbalances arising.

It's inevitable under these extraordinary circumstances that the boundaries we've set up will be crossed at some point. Nevertheless, we have to try to maintain our mental health here and somehow keep our productivity up at the same time.

Hopefully some of these nuggets of wisdom will help you make WFH a little smoother during the quarantine.

Janeen Ellsworth is a copywriter for BlastPoint, Inc. and Doors Unhinged, LLC, and is the creator of The Reductionist.