The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated many people to work from home, which has many advantages, but also challenges!
Herewith some tips for working from home:
- Create a quiet and comfortable dedicated office space with good lighting, a comfortable chair, a good-sized desk with your computing system fitting easily on the desk.
- Make sure your technology is working : it is useful to have a decent-sized screen, a printer that’s easy to attach, and internet that’s fast and reliable!
- Try to keep a routine with consistent working hours.
- Get showered, dressed and look presentable every morning. It helps to delineate the start of the working day; and you never know which online meeting you may be called into suddenly!
- Find ways of easing cabin fever- if possible go out and work at a coffee shop for a while (with your mask on of course) and try to exercise most days.
- Take a few breaks during the course if the day- and use them to go for a short walk, do some chores or fetch kids from school. Build these “chores” into your plan for the day so that you do not get ‘annoyed” that they are interfering with your work day.
- Set ground rules for the family, letting them know that you are working during set hours, and are not to be disturbed apart from for real emergencies.
- Don’t get sucked into social media! By letting your mind wander towards your social media updates, your work will become less productive and suddenly hours will go by without your realizing it! Set aside 2 short sessions a day for checking social media. Try to have some sacred work time with your phone switched off.
- Have occasional face-to-face meetings with your colleagues instead of only telecalls.
- Stay motivated and on top of things with lists, plans and schedules.
