Tips for Working from Home

Working from home is considered by many to be a highly-coveted work structure that most would welcome; others are terrified at the thought of being home to work without in-person interactions or access to outside resources and engagement. The global crisis of COVID-19 has forced many to begin working from home in an effort to follow CDC and world health recommendations to practice social distancing. 

Although this is a unique time to begin a new work structure - especially considering many of us are now homeschool teachers and are literally confined to our homes - working from home requires discipline in order to maintain productivity and some sense of normalcy. My colleague Matt highlighted the hurdles of teleworking and some of his tips for combatting those hurdles, so I would like to share a few of my own. 

Here are some tips for making the most of working from home that I have gathered from around the Internet and from my own experience teleworking the past year. 

Always get ready for the day.

It is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of waking up and getting to work while still in your pajamas. But I promise, getting up and getting ready for the day will make you so much more productive. I was lucky to be one of the graduating Longhorns, when Admiral McRaven famously recommended during his commencement speech in 2014, “if you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished your first task of the day.” Following a morning routine will help jumpstart your day and build some form of normalcy during this chaotic time. 

Set boundaries.

It is important to set clear boundaries for your work hours - whether that be with your boss and team or with your new “coworkers” - kids, roommates, significant other, pets. Keeping to a work schedule and routine will help manage expectations and maintain some normalcy for everyone. This may get tricky if you have multiple people trying to get on Zoom calls all at the same time, or you have that one “coworker” who is happy that everyone is now home all the time and wants to play, so try to set some guidelines and a schedule for the day. Your new work-from-home work structure shouldn’t enable any late work calls or projects that otherwise wouldn’t be an option, so avoid falling for that trap in order to avoid diminishing your work-life balance.

Make goals + use a planner.

I am a passion-user of paper and digital planners. I love using lists and calendars as tools for staying organized and productive. While we all adjust to our new normal, I encourage you to use a planner, agenda, or notebook to develop a list or schedule of weekly and daily tasks and goals. Many may find their new work structure intimidating or liberating, but both could benefit from having some structure. Write down your conference call schedule, map out time for screen breaks and lunch, dedicate time for connecting with your coworkers, and try to set reasonable guidelines for work hours. There’s also nothing better than checking things off your always growing to-do list. Project management and communication tools like Trello and Slack can also help you keep your team productive and organized by staying on top of tasks. 

I used The Happy Planner hourly planner to map out my work week and I keep a separate planner for my personal life - staying organized works for me.

Find what works for you.

Although not always possible, it is extremely beneficial to select a work area that can be your designated productive spot. A home office, a kitchen table, or other desk is a great option for bunkering down for the work day. However, it is okay to switch things up, especially during this time of “coronachaos”. If the weather is nice, sit on your balcony and soak up some vitamin D while working - while properly social distancing of course. 

As you adapt to your new workplace, don’t underestimate the importance of background noise. Some people need to work in absolute silence to be productive, others are more efficient when The Office is playing in the background - find what works for you. I default to playing movie scores on Spotify when I really need to focus and occasionally will work with the news on in the background. 

Hopefully these tips will help you navigate working from home and bring some comfort during this time of much uncertainty. Let me know what other tips you have for working from home or navigating the new normal during this global pandemic. 

Samantha’s “coworker” Boots, sleeping on the job.

Samantha is the Talent Acquisition and Brand Manager for Full Visibility and really does use paper planners to plan her days with her boyfriend, bonus kids, “coworkers” Boots and Abbey, and baby on the way. 

Other Resources on Working-From-Home:

NPR: Tips to Make Working From Home Work For You

Trello: Work-From-Home Guides

ClearanceJobs: Tips for Cleared Workers Navigating Working From Home

Nextiva: Working From Home Tips 

Teleworking Hurdles

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced social distancing measures to help “flatten the curve,” placing many companies in the strange new world of telework. While there are some technical hurdles to overcome, the bigger challenges are the human ones.  The good news is that the two challenges discussed below are not unlike the ones we face in a normal workday, which means we can certainly overcome them.

While workplace interruptions are the big productivity killer at the office, for the teleworker, the biggest hurdle to being productive is managing distractions.  We humans are easily distracted – I can go into “Magpie Mode” without too much effort on my part, becoming sidetracked by the Internet and other people.  It’s really no different than when I’m in the office.  People are, generally speaking, social creatures and so it is quite easy to fall down the time-sink rabbit hole with discussions about sports, current events, and the newest must-see show on Netflix.

The second hurdle is time management.  Time management is a discipline, and I have found that it is much easier for me to be undisciplined when at home.  While I do not have any personal experience from the Army, that old US Army TV commercial claiming, "In the Army, we do more before 9am than most people do all day” is probably incredibly accurate.  I think they accomplish this through structure and routine.  When my workday has the bookends of a long commute each way, it’s easier to have the mindset that I’m at work.  This does not naturally happen if I am working from home, and so I have to counteract the tendency towards mixing work and home time.

So how do we clear these hurdles?  First we need to recognize that jumping hurdles, whether actual or metaphorical, is a skill and requires some practice (and patience).  I doubt there is a “right way” for everyone, but I do believe there are some common practices that will help.

For the challenge of distractions, it is critical that everyone in the house is on the same page.  Context switching is hard, and if your kids or spouse view your telecommuting day as free time to interrupt you, then you are not going to be very focused.  Similarly, you might need to turn off social media.  I find that I simply cannot focus on work while I have people and things vying for my attention. 

Create a “space” where you can be “at work” and do “work things” there. If that space is in the family room and others are playing games or watching TV then you’re likely to be distracted and not particularly productive.  Setting up a “home office” is a good step in the right direction as it helps both you and those under the same roof clearly recognize “work time” and treat it as such.  A room with a door that can be closed is great, but simply having a place where distractions can be minimized is bound to improve your focus and productivity.

Time management is a matter of discipline.  Treat your day as if you were going to the job.  There needs to be a normal work routine – mine involves showering, dressing, and going to my “home office” to start the day.  I generally keep regular work hours and doing so while teleworking ensures that I don’t end up frittering away the day on non-work activities.  Like the US Army commercial, I’m most productive in the 0600-1000 window. This also happens to be the quietest time of day at work and at home.  I time box my day so that those distractions don’t creep in and derail me.  I also think it’s valuable to build in some “get up and stretch” time – both for my back and my eyes.  After twenty to forty minutes of being fully focused on a task I often take a few minutes to get up and move around.  I don’t create a strict 25-minute/5-minute system – as done with the “Pomodoro Method” – as I find it a bit unnatural to force myself to take breaks because a timer went off.  Instead, I let the context of the work I’m doing create more natural pausing points – context switching is hard enough and I’m certain it is better for me to break away along natural boundaries than because some tomato timer went off.

Certainly there are other challenges to teleworking, but distractions and time management are the top two on my list.  I suspect I am not alone.  What are your experiences with teleworking?  I’d love to hear them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matt Cuba is a Senior Software Developer at Full Visibility. In his spare time, he enjoys kayaking, photography, beekeeping, and a good cup of tea.