Community Convo - Navigating Your New Office
Over the past couple of months, we have all had to adjust to a new type of normal. Social distancing has given us a new set of guidelines for how we operate through our daily lives, and for many people, along with that new normal comes a new office space - your house. Working from home used to be an occasional treat - being able to review your morning emails from your couch, or taking a conference call snuggled up in your warmest PJs… but when everyday becomes a treat, it’s easy to fall into some laziness traps along the way! Today, we want to provide you with some tips to help you navigate your new office and avoid any potential pitfalls of this new normal.
First, we recommend setting some boundaries for yourself. Don’t worry, we’re not going to tell you to throw away your PJs, but we are going to suggest swapping your couch for a desk. Staying comfortable is important, but it’s easy to fall so deep into relaxation mode that it can be hard to keep your brain stimulated! Having a separate, designated work space helps to keep your brain in work mode while you’re working from home. Save the couch for your lunch breaks instead!
When it comes to breaks, take them! Don’t keep yourself tied to your desk all day long - it’s important to have mental breaks to rejuvenate your mental drive and creativity. It’s easy to get lost in the job without the same sense of structure that comes with going into the actual office, but it’s important to give yourself some type of schedule that allows for some down time. Your new day may not be the typical 9-5 anymore, but that doesn’t mean you need to go without any type of structured timeline.
These days more than ever, most of us are tied to our phones. They are our ways to communicate, our forms of downtime, and a welcome distraction from the chaos around us. However, when it comes time to sit dow for work, we suggest turning your phones off, or at least silent. Without some feeling of being seen like you are when you’re at the office, the possibility of distraction is incredibly high at home. Any ring, buzz, or social media notification can take your focus off of the task at hand and take you deep into a rabbit hole of scrolling through posts or getting caught filtering through your junk emails. We suggest breaking out the phone during your breaks, and only during your breaks, to help increase your productivity and attention to your work.
What tips do you find to be the most effective when you’re working from home?