Working from home

As someone that works from home normally anyway, I was wondering how people that are usually office based are coping with the change to home based..?

It can be quite isolating – especially if like me, you live alone. But it can also be very productive to learn how to manage your own time. Some little real-life tips from me as a 4 year home worker:

• Don’t fall into the trap of working into the evenings, occasionally is fine if your workload demands it, but you should avoid that becoming a habit.
• Take breaks to exercise – if you were in your office you may be walking to the canteen for a coffee, walking to get your lunch, walking to other offices or around your shopfloor etc and you will notice that exercise drop when working from home. A simple skipping rope is what I use to help, taking a break and doing a minute skipping a few times a day will make up for that lack of walking. (if I’m ever out of breath when you call – that’ll be why) 
• Watch your snacking – so very easy to nip to the kitchen and grab a snack more at home than at the office. 
• Podcasts are great to listen to as background noise, hearing people talking rather than listening to music can help make you feel a little less isolated.
• Make lists and take notes when on calls, I used to do this to a certain extent when in an office, but now everything gets written down. There are no visual or verbal cues to help remember things like you have in an office environment, so keeping notes and lists will help take the place of those cues. 
• Get dressed..! not into your usual office wear, but spending all day in your pyjamas is really not good for your mindset..! ??  
• Try to position your desk by a window, it took me a while to realise this one, but having a window by your work area rather than just a wall does make a difference to your mood too.
• And lastly, don’t beat yourself up about the fact that some days are going to be slower than others. Its just the same at the office, but when there you have other distractions that take up your time – chatting with workmates, taking a little longer making that tea/coffee run, offering to help a workmate with their tasks etc. 

Feel free to add your tips in the comments.