We are in the middle of lockdown and quarantines in a pandemic, and life is feeling a little more stressed and difficult than usual. If you are lucky enough to be able to have kept hold of your job, you may well be working from home. It’s the new normal, but it doesn’t make it easy! You can easily feel isolated and alone when you work from home, so you need to think about how you can make this work for you.
There is a chance that you may be one of the very many people who have started their own business as you work from home, and that means that life gets even more confusing with a need for insurance, understanding about 1099-misc forms and more! Running a business isn’t easy, either and you need to get this right if you want to manage well at home. Some of the things that you need to remember about working from home include:
- Get a workspace set up and make sure that you keep work at this workspace. You need to have a desk specific to your work, not for your laundry or your kids toys. You can replicate the environment that you had in the office to make it easier to concentrate, but don’t just migrate to the couch and work on your lap.
- Give yourself a schedule for working. You don’t want to blur the line between work and home life as it makes working from home far harder than it needs to be. Try to maintain your existing office and working routines so that you can commit the right amount of time to your job. Working at home is much easier if you know your schedule at all angles at all times.
- Don’t let up on communication with your employees and your boss. The more that you can all talk together, the easier it will be to get it all right when you hit a wall. You may be working from home, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop talking to your team. Regular communication keeps everyone in check and stops you from feeling isolated.
- Get moving! If you would usually go for a walk at lunch time, go for a walk at lunch time. Go round the block and get moving so every hour you are moving in some way.
- Set healthy boundaries for the others living in your home. Tell the kids that when the door is shut they have to pretend like you’re not at home. Explain to your partner that you will help where you can but if you’re working hours you cannot be treated as if you are at home. You need to concentrate and you need them not to interrupt your working day. This is vital if you want to be able to do your job well.
Working from home doesn’t have to be harder than it needs to be. Just remember to keep your boundaries, work hard and communicate and it’ll work out!
