Day 1074. 225 lbs lost (as of 2-2).
I remember my first work at home day; it was about 13 years ago. I slept in till around 9:00 am, wandered into the kitchen, threw on a pot of coffee, and then went into the living room to watch T.V. Four hours later, a pot of coffee and maybe a little bacon grease on my shirt, I was like… “Oh shit. I haven’t gotten anything done”. I was way too absorbed in recorded episodes of “Lost.”
Working from home made it easy to stay in my pajamas all day. I would roll of out bed, throw my hair up in a bun, and wander across the hall to my office. By the time I realized I should probably take a shower, it was 3:00 pm. Well, hell, the day is almost over, might as well stay in my pajamas!
Fast forward over a decade. I learned a few things over the years that might help a lot of you right now; setting boundaries, keeping to a schedule, dress, and figuring out the perfect work-life balance. Your home is loaded with distractions and booby traps: T.V, pets, laundry, home honey-do lists, and hell yes – that 110-ounce container of peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets. Transitioning from a traditional office to your home office takes some time to perfect. But you guys can do it. I could probably come up with a list of 50 long, but guys….. let’s start with the basics.
Dedicated Space – Work Where You Feel Happy
Let me guess. One day you’re working on your laptop from the couch, the next day you’re sitting at the dining room table. As lovely as this is, it’s probably not going to work longterm. The main reason is that you need to be able to minimize distractions. The first step in your work-from-home journey is to establish a dedicated space. Regardless of space or location, this will be your space to dedicate and commit to productivity. One caveat here: don’t work in the living room. There is nothing more that kills productivity than watching T.V. It’s okay to have it on for background noise – but trying to binge Breaking Bad while you’re trying to work is probably not a good idea.
Set Real Work Hours
I think what might be throwing everyone off right now is schedules. If you’re going to be a superstar at working from home, you need to set yourself up real working hours. If you had a typical office 8 am to 5 pm job, and you want to maintain a schedule, this will STILL be your schedule. Enforce a hard limit at the end of the day. Distance yourself from work, so you don’t work nonstop.
Set a Morning Routine Ritual
I’m not really talking about sacrificing a lamb on the back porch. -One perk of working from home is not having to deal with the morning commute. But, it doesn’t mean you skip the morning routine. Get up, take a shower, make your coffee, eat your breakfast, make your lunch – just like you would if you had to leave the house. Whatever you did before, that’s what you’re going to keep doing.
My Box has the morning workout at 7 am via Zoom. I would LOVE to do this, but my standard schedule is the 5 am class. For me to keep in my groove, 5 am class still happens. I’m in the shower by 6:30, breakfast is made by 7:30, and I’m ready to hit it.
Balance
Keeping to a schedule is the main reason I bring up balance. It’s effortless to work WAY more hours at home than you ever did at the office. Why? Because you don’t notice time quite as much. For example, it’s the end of the day, 4:30 pm, and you’re wrapping things up. You say to yourself, “ten more minutes, I just want to figure this out.” Before you know it, 4 hours have passed. You haven’t noticed because you are already at home. That burning desire to get the heck out of the office isn’t there anymore. You’re already home! It’s easier to overwork at home than you think. You have to be able to put work down at a particular time just like you would if you were at the office. Some of you are going to struggle with this, but the work will be there tomorrow, trust me. At the end of your workday, shut down your computer, shut the door, and walk away. Turn that shit off.
Don’t Work in Your P.J.’s.
Would you go to work in your pajamas? No, you wouldn’t. So why are you doing it at home? Even if you aren’t leaving the house, you need to get up and dress for work as you usually would. There is a cliché corporate buzzphrase called “dress for success.” I know, I know. I didn’t think so when I first started working from home, but it’s essential. There is a psychology involved that gets you in the mindset for work, and not only that; you’ll be ready to handle any kind of check-in or even a video chat (if you do this thing).
Invest
Don’t forget about the little things. Buy a good headset, keyboard, and mouse. Get the most reliable and strongest internet connection you can. Don’t ruin a video chat because someone else in the house is streaming HULU. And for the love of Sam, don’t underestimate the value of a good solid office chair. It doesn’t mean you have to go into debt, but the more comfortable you are, the more productive you are going to be.
Happy working from home – campers.
