Working in isolation and your mental health. What I have learned that you may find of use.

Nearly four years ago now, I stepped out of the corporate world and started my own business that employs a remote working model; we have no office and our entire team works from home. For me, this meant working in isolation for the first time, ever. Previously, I’d spent eighteen years in the military, constantly surrounded by people, then ten years in industry, based in a busy open-plan office or out and about meeting clients and partners. I was hardly ever (indeed, never) alone at work. On reflection, I was not at all prepared for the changes I was about to experience.

Four years into our journey, I’m happy to admit that there have been times that I’ve found this working model exceedingly challenging and I think I’ve learned a fair few lessons (some, the hard way) during my adventure into something new. I think I have it cracked now and I have worked out a routine that works for me. Across the world, many people are about to embark on a period of isolated working and I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts and experiences with you, to hopefully help you adapt and to assist in protecting your own mental health:

1.      Set up a distinct working area. Ideally, in a spare room or part of a spare room. Do not work on your lap-top in your personal living and relaxing spaces.

2.      If you don’t have extra space available and you do have to mix working and relaxing areas at home, then put your work equipment away when it’s time to relax. Don’t leave your computer on the kitchen table when you’re cooking dinner, for example. Put it in another room.

3.      Get a screen, keyboard and docking station for your lap-top. This will help “set up” an office work-space in a fixed location the works best for you and will avoid you moving around into your personal living and relaxing spaces.

4.      Sitting on the sofa with your phone and lap-top (especially with the TV news on in the background) is one of the worst things you can possibly do. Before you know it, this will become your default 24/7 position. You’ll have lost any form of separation. Working on the sofa (or any other poor working position) can also damage your posture and cause pain.

5.      Explain what’s happening to those living around you. Give notice and ask for space to make calls. Explain how long you’ll be. Reciprocate that respect and understanding if others are also working from the same home.  

6.      Stick to your hours. Be disciplined and turn off and walk away when the time is right to do so.

7.      If you can, physically close the door on your office space when you stop working. This really helps differentiate and creates clear separation in the limited space of your home.

8.      Probably one of the most important things for me is to do some exercise each morning. I find this really helps energise my day and keeps my mind healthy. I force myself to make this happen and I feel so much better for it.

9.      Try not to get out of bed and immediately sit at your computer in your Jim-Jams. Allow enough time for a shower, breakfast, get dressed, then start your day as if you were going to the office.

10.  Allow time for regular breaks. Get up, walk around, do something different, make a hot drink, eat some food. During breaks it’s very important that you are not in your office space.

11.  Be disciplined about your meals. Try not to eat your meals in front of your work computer or anywhere else in your workspace. Step away and eat properly in a relaxed space and then return to work afterwards.

12.  Talk to people. Pick up the phone or FaceTime friends and family during your breaks. Use some of this time for remote social interaction. Discuss your feelings and compare notes with others.

13.  Work out the discipline and etiquette of conference calling with your colleagues. Respect their challenges too.

14.  Add a small amount of social chit-chat and humour onto the front end of conference calls before you dive into your agenda. Your colleagues are also working alone and they will also benefit from such social interaction prior to work being conducted. Indeed, some people will be both living and working alone so it’s even more important to be mindful of that and encourage conversation and support around work calls.

15.  More amusing but true, I once had a colleague take a conference call into the toilet with them, to then announce they had been having a poo during the call! That is not OK! For anyone concerned…….

16.  Switch it all off at the weekends. This is really important as it’s all too easy to nip into your office to clear a few things up that in reality, can wait until Monday.

17.  When you’re not at work, try to limit screen time. Don’t get off your computer and jump straight in front of the TV. Talk to the people you live with and try to interact in ways that do not involve screens. Board games and conversations, for example!

18.  As hard as it is, try to leave your phone in another room when you are relaxing. We can all relate to this point already, but your work E mails pinging in when you’re in your relaxing and socialising space is not healthy and it’s far worse when you’ve already spent all day working from home.

19.  Set goals, write lists, work your way through so that you can ‘close the door’ each day feeling positive.

20.  Try not to take any work-related negativity across into your relaxing personal space. For most, this process normally occurs whilst commuting home but be aware that the commute is not there to help in this regard. You’ll need to work hard at this.

21.  Don’t be afraid to use any down-time in work tasks for yourself. Unlike when you’re stuck in an office all day, you can actually manage other domestic tasks around work quite easily and I’ve found that it can provide a useful distraction and a break. No calls or E mails to deal with for an hour? Step away and clean the floors or do the washing. This will allow you to relax more easily at the end of the day, knowing your home is clean and tidy.

22.  Be OK with it not being OK sometimes. There will be times when you feel bad and your personal mood and motivation takes a dive. Stop, do something different, make yourself feel better, then resume work.

 I’m sorry if this comes across to some as obvious or simply ‘common sense’. But, I’m happy to admit that I got it wrong in a number of ways and if sharing my experiences with others helps, even a little bit, then it’s been a worthwhile exercise to write this down and share it, in my opinion.

Good luck everyone and don’t forget to talk to each other when locked down in isolation.