Sheltering in place? Working from home doesn't have to be hard.

Today I learned of a team of software engineers in Manila Philippines that my company works with were struggling with the adjustment of working from home. You'd think that they'd embrace it. Manila is the most densely populated city in the world. It's a place where the routine commute time is a few hours — and that's just to travel a couple miles. If it weren't for the crowds (Manila has more than 111,000 people per square mile), and the fact that the temps average in the 90s F with 75+% humidity, you could walk it much faster.

But for people who have spent their careers going into the workplace, change is difficult. Breaking a routine is uncomfortable. Welcome to the new normal. We're all working from home now.

I've worked from home for the past three-plus years, and on and off for several years prior to that. But this is different. The past few weeks have caused chaos throughout the world as nearly everyone has had to join the minority of us who do so.

Here are a few tips for making the adjustment, and for helping others to do so. You can be productive, perhaps even more so than you were before.

Dress the part

Just because you don't have to get dressed for the office (or whatever your workplace is) doesn't mean that you shouldn't. I can't get in the right mindset without showering, shaving and putting on a collared shirt and watch. If I don't it just feels off. I don't take things as seriously.

What are the things you need to do to get your body to make your mind ready to work?

Pajamas aren't work attire. Either is a t-shirt and boxers. Jon Acuff says it well in his video post, The Life Changing Power of Pants. Check it out.

Environment

It's home. If you're not careful all of the distractions of home will become just that. Dishes, laundry, pets, kids, Netflix, etc.

Dedicate some space for work, and set some ground rules — both for you and the family (pets included).

If you don't have a room that you can make into a home office, find a nook in a hallway, a quiet space, something. Face yourself away from the rest of the house to avoid distractions.

Put everything there that you need to get your work done. Desk. Table. It doesn't matter what it is. It's your workspace now. Treat it like that. Get good lighting. Invest in a larger monitor if you're working on a laptop. A good 27" display can be less than $150.

Figure out what else you need to replicate your ideal space and piece it together.

Figure out what's going to distract you and make a pact with yourself not to let it do so. Don't start laundry if you don't want the washer timer to distract you later. You didn't do it while you were at the office. It can wait until you "get home" when the work day is done.

Put pets in a different space. Let children know when it's appropriate to interrupt and when it's not. Again, you didn't deal with them when you were at the office. They can generally wait until you take a scheduled break.

You're working. It's at home. But when done right, it shouldn't feel like your working at home.

Routine

Part of the reason that this is so challenging for people is that it's a break in their routine. We're creatures of habit. Change is uncomfortable. So figure out what you can continue to do the same. Then start the process of creating habits for those things that you have to change.

Start your day a the same time. So you saved the commute time. What did you do during your commute? Listen to the radio, audio books or podcasts? Keep doing it. Medidate? Great. Keep doing it. Make phone calls to start your work day? Fine, do those. The normalcy will help to keep you on pace.

Find things that you can keep doing throughout your day to minimize the perception of the change. These little habits will help to keep you on pace.

Tools

Productivity is largely a matter of focus, discipline and the right tools. What did you have at your work place that you can't have here. Is there a way to replicate it.

Better yet, this might be an opportunity to replace something that mearly sufficed with something better.

Think about tasks and activities you do throughout the day and how you do them. Can you replace something with software on a laptop or an app on your phone? You may find that "going digital" creates other efficiencies. Maybe you can replace that copier and scanner with the camera on your phone and email.

Perhaps you can cut out a step or two with software. Struggling to find the right solution. Ask Google, or your friends and colleagues on LinkedIn or Facebook. Crowd-sourced information can be some of the best. Just don't let yourself get sucked into a black hole of lost time on social media during the work day.

I love Zoom for video conferences. Google Hangouts is great too. And it's free with a Google account (Gmail or G Suite)!

Many people don't like to do so, but please don't be afraid to turn on the camera. Seeing others in person will help to feel less secluded and more involved in the meeting than a conference call ever will. Earlier today I had someone say on a group video conference that it was "so nice to interact with other adults".

Document sharing for collaboration can also be a good experience via video conference.

Slack, Skype, Google Chat, iMessage, and many other chat tools can be great to exchange quick thought and have quick group conversation. Just set some boundaries and expectations about what channel — email, chat tools, video conference, phone, etc. — is appropriate for different kinds of communication. Otherwise you'll spend your day bouncing from one tool to another without actually getting anything productive done.

I'm a fan of G Suite for document collaboration. Office 365 and Microsoft Teams have good tools as well.

Ease into it

Don't expect to get it all figured out on the first day, or first week. Challenges are exacerbated by the fact that it's not just you adjusting. The vast majority of people are. While it can be frustrating, it can also be good to know that you're not alone.

It's reasonable to expect people to have some patience with you during the transition. Likewise, please have patience with others as they figure it out. Offer some words of encouragement. Share and exchange ideas. We're all in this together.

Once you settle into a routine, you'll probably find that you appreciate the time (and money) you're saving by eliminating the commute and eating lunch at home. You may find that it creates more time to get things done for work, or that it creates time for other activities and hobbies.

A lot of people find that they miss the social interactions of a workplace. Find ways to interact at the start and end of meetings. Use video conferencing, phone calls and group chats to fill that void. When I wasn't in a "shelter in place" situation I would meet people for coffee or lunch meetings a couple times each week to fill that void.

What's working for you? I'd love to share ideas in the comments below.