I’ve been working from home for well over a year now, working virtually with my clients for the majority of that time. There have only been a few occasions that clients have requested face to face meetings … most of my interaction with them is via email, Asana or Zoom.
Now I know that there are lots of people who are being forced to work from home right now, so I thought I’d give you some pointers on how I make it work for me.
Stay in routine – Get up at the same time you did when you went to the office. This is actually great advice for life in general. Your body and mind is happier if you get up and go to bed at the same time every day!
Get dressed – This is a hard one for me ’cause I just love working in my PJs. BUT the experts say you should get out of your PJs, take a shower, get dressed and then get to work.
Set up a dedicated work area – Instead of working at the kitchen table, try to establish a designated work area. If you don’t have space in your house for an office, even finding a place for a desk is a great idea. Try to make your work area somewhere you’ll feel comfortable and make sure you’ve got lots of natural light – that makes such a difference to your overall wellbeing.
Monitors – You’re probably used to having two monitors in the office and you usually make do when you occasionally work from home. Maybe you could borrow an extra monitor or buy a cheap second hand one from Gumtree or FB Marketplace.
Taking your meeting online – grab some good meeting software like Zoom so you can share screens, files, and hold meetings remotely.
Take regular breaks – Take the puppies for a walk (yep that’s me!) or do some exercise at home (hubby is still going for his run and working out in the shed gym).
Have a ‘normal’ finish time – Turn off your business phone, if you have one; close your email, and shut the laptop. You deserve a mental break! One of the things I do without fail every afternoon, is write my to do list for the following day … this is part of my switch off routine.
Plan your meals – If you normally grab coffee and lunch out when you’re at the office, it might be a bit of an adjustment being at home. I always try to keep easy breakfasts and lunches on hand; leftovers are great too. We tend to do a couple of big meals on the weekend that we can use during the week.
Hopefully the world will be back to ‘business as usual’ in the next few months and these ideas help you work from home successfully until then.
