How to Make Working From Home Not Suck

What strange times we find ourselves in! Thank goodness for the blessing of technology that allows us to stay connected with friends, family, church, and work while riding out a quarantine! And while spending the day in your pajamas working from home SOUNDS like a great idea, like all things we glamourize, it’s not always all it’s cracked up to be.

I’ve been working from home for the last 7 years, so I thought I’d share a few tips to help you embrace working from home, especially if you aren’t the introverted hermit that I am.

1. Get Dressed! That’s right – get dressed, put on your makeup, fix your hair, put on your shoes. Keep your regular routine and resist the urge to spend the day in sweat pants. Doing so signals your brain that it’s time to work and be productive, not time to lounge.
2. Find Your Spot: Create a place where you work and set it up with all the supplies you need. Then work there…not from the couch or your bed. Again, doing this signals your brain that it’s time for work, not rest. Plus, it helps you to create some work/home boundaries and allows you to walk away when you are done for the day.
3. Plan your Time & Schedule Breaks: I always try to work in 90-minute blocks and then take a break. Even just walking outside to get the mail allows my brain to refresh itself. First thing in the morning, plan out your “blocks”, and include the basic distractions chores of the house. If I know I have 30 minutes in the afternoon for basic housework, I no longer hear the dirty laundry yelling at me from the hamper while I’m trying to work. Here’s an example:
   • 9:00 – 10:30 work
   • 10:30 – 11:00 do a load of laundry
   • 11:00 – 12:30 work
   • 12:30 – 1:00 lunch
   • 1:00 – 2:30 work
   • 2:30 – 3:00 pay bills
   • 3:00 – 4:30 work
   • 4:30 – 5:30 prep for dinner & family time
4. No TV Until After Work Hours: That’s right. Because “just one show” turns into “I’ll just finish this season” before you know it! In fact, I’ve heard it only takes 30 minutes of watching tv to stimulate feelings of depression…so good luck trying to get back to work after that! If you’re interested, check out this study of how tv affects our mood.
5. Make Video Your Go-To: It’s tempting to communicate via text, email, and slack when you work from home. Try to make video your primary method of communication like zoom, skype, or facetime. This increases your interaction with other humans, and you will inevitably always squeeze in a few minutes of non-work-related chatter that would otherwise happen at the office water cooler.
6. Evaluate Your Progress: At the end of the day, take 5 quick minutes to review your productivity. Identify what worked well, and what traps you fell into (like answering the siren-song the dirty dishes were singing to you). Make a plan to solve those problems for tomorrow.
7. Be Intentional with Relationships: This goes for both work and social relationships right now! Intentionally plan a facetime call with your best friend or to check in with your parents. Set a “coffee date” each week with a group of friends via skype to catch up, share stories, or do a Bible study together. Ask about your co-worker’s personal lives and remember to follow up again later to ask about what they shared.

Working from home doesn’t have to suck, you just have to adjust your routine and expectations. Admittedly, a difficult task for so many who are suddenly thrust into this whole work-from-home thing and never got a chance to wrap their brains around what it would look like before diving in. Don’t forget to give yourself some grace along the way – this is new, we’re building the plane as we fly it, and we’re all figuring it out together. May the odds be ever in your favor.