Adjusting to Working from Home – TPW288

Because of the current pandemic, many people are now working from home who never expected to do so.


Working from home when you didn't plan to 

Due to the effects of the current worldwide pandemic, there have been lots of discussions lately about adjustments to working from home. We’ve talked about working from home in the past, but when the decision is made for you suddenly and with little time to prepare, it’s a very different thing. It brings with it a whole new set of challenges.

Add to that the fact that for many of us, we are making this adjustment at the same time our children (of all ages) are home from school, and for some of us, our spouse or significant other is either working from home or has been laid off.

One great example of this ongoing conversation was a question Elena O. asked in The Productive Woman Community Facebook group:

“Reaching out to ask for help with suddenly working remotely! I'm very anxious and having a very difficult time with self-motivation. Life does go on, though, and I need to figure this out. I want to create a schedule that includes my job, exercise, a daily home project (organization or cleaning) and some downtime each day, as our home is very full and I am easily distracted. Do you have ideas, templates or productivity tools that might help? I'm thinking of real basics. I need to replace this fear with confidence."

My experience

I’ve worked from home for the past couple of years, serving my legal clients as well as producing the podcast, working with coaching clients, and at times facilitating TPW mastermind groups.

Even for me, it’s different right now--the stress of what’s going on in the world, my son home from graduate school, so trying to help get him set up to finish his grad school semester remotely; my husband working a different schedule so home an extra day during the week

Challenges of working from home


Disruption of change
Distractions, both external and internal
Mom guilt
Isolation


A few things that can help

We talked last week about mindset issues--managing our own thinking. This is important all the time, but especially when adjusting to unexpected change in difficult times.

In addition, there are some practical steps you can take to be able to work effectively and efficiently:

1. If you can, set aside a space for work.

When we bought this house in December, we looked specifically at houses that had a home office, because we knew I’d continue working from home. But if you’re not used to working from home, you might not have a whole room for a workspace. If you can take over a guest room for a while, great. But even if you can’t have a whole room with a door to close, find a space, if possible, where you can leave your work “stuff” without having to pack it up every day.

Gather the materials and gear you need. Find the most comfortable chair you can.

Make it a priority to make a functional and pleasant place to work--move things around from other parts of your house if needed (e.g., lamps, work table, etc.)

2. Create boundaries between work and non-work.

3. Use time management tools like time blocking.

This may be more workable than scheduling the day hour by hour, create blocks of time for certain activities, like deep work, phone and/or video calls, administrative tasks, education for your kids, household tasks, and personal care.

4. Develop routines and rituals to help get your mind on task.