Working from home sounded like heaven three months ago. Staying in your jammies, rolling out of bed and to your desk and no morning commute. Living the dream, right? Under any other circumstances, yeah maybe. Working from home, finding the fine between work and personal life can get a little confusing. As always, dmt are here to help. We’ve put together a simple guide to working from home to help you keep focused. Let’s get into it:
Take breaks.
A lot of people are used to working in an office with other people where you’re socialising and taking short breaks throughout the day. When you’re alone, time seems to get away from. Before you know it you’ve worked through lunch and forgot to take some TLC time for yourself. Go to a different room in your house, have a scroll through Twitter, laugh at some memes, make a brew. Do something, anything, to have a little time away from your work space.
Have a designated dinner hour.
You separate work and lunchtime in your office, so do the same now. And try to take it at the same time everyday – if you can. Take this time to make that really tasty meal you love but smells out the office kitchen and your co-workers complain about. We can’t be held responsible for your roommate complaining instead though.
Get up at your usual time.
After speaking to people who work from home regularly, they all said the same thing: routine is everything. If you get up at 6:30 usually, do the same now. During the time you’d usually commute to and from the office you can instead spend some time on yourself. Head out for a short walk and get some fresh air, do some yoga, make a tasty breakfast from scratch that you normally don’t have the time for.
Get dressed.
It has been scientifically proven that when you’re working in your comfy clothes, you’re likely to be less productive. Wear your usual work attire. Imagine: a client wants to have a quick meeting with you over FaceTime or Hangouts and you’re wearing your Elmo onesie. It doesn’t exactly scream professional. But if you’re already wearing your work clothes, problem = solved.
Separate work and pleasure.
If you can, don’t have your new work space in your bedroom. And definitely don’t work from your bed because before you know it that ‘one video’ you meant to watch has now turned onto Netflix and you’re an hour behind on your work. Set up your new space in your living room, at your kitchen table or spare room. It might be a bit of an inconvenience but separating the two will do a world of good for your productivity.
Keep distractions to a minimum.
I doubt there is a TV in your office, so don’t have it on at home. Keep the distractions to a minimum. If you can’t work in the quiet then put a playlist on, one like this is always good to work to. Funky beats never fail to keep your morale up.
Keep to your regular working hours.
Working 9 – 5 always spills over a little bit, that’s normal. Don’t over-do it, still make time for yourself like you would once you get home from the office normally.
Communication is key.
Working separately from your colleagues is hard for lots of reasons. You spend the majority of your time with these people, let’s face it, you’re gonna miss them. Set up a chat with everyone and regular calls are essential. At dmt we have morning and evening calls with everyone to update everyone on our day.
Have some ‘you’ time. And stick to it.
Self care has never been so important. Bringing the stress of work into your home life can make your body all kinds of confused. Take some time to look after yourself. Treat yourself to some of your favourite snacks, do a face mask, watch an extra episode of Tiger King on Netflix – no seriously, watch it. You’ll thank us later.
More than anything: stay safe.
This is our number one rule. Stay away from crowded places, only head outside if you absolutely need to. Look after each other. And please, don’t stockpile toilet roll.
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