6 Best Practices for Working from Home
Forced to Work from Home? I've Been Doing It for a Decade, and Here's How I've Dialed It In…
With everyone in a panic about the coronavirus and offices shutting down across the globe, you may find yourself – voluntarily or not – working from home. You may love it, you may hate it, but either way. it's certainly an adjustment.
I've been working from home since 2010, when I left a career as a product designer and launched my own coaching business.
I fell in love with working from home and I’ll never go back.
In this article, I share the challenges and benefits of working from home and my tips and best practices for optimizing your "work at home experience."
The Challenges of Working from Home
Working outside of an office environment provides greater flexibility but a need to structure your time and create your own accountability. It also requires you to find ways of working that are balanced but also truly effective. I've found that there's a learning curve to figuring this out, and it's worth giving yourself some time – at least a few weeks – to experiment, even if it means a brief dip in productivity. Finding and creating enjoyable ways to work is an invaluable investment in your freedom!
The Benefits of Working from Home
What's optimal for you may not be "office acceptable" or even feasible in an office environment. For example, you might like to work for a stretch in the morning, then go grocery shopping or take two hours to do a home workout and to cook a tasty lunch midday, then crank out some more work in the afternoon or at night. Working from home, without the obligation to look busy or be at your desk, enables you to work in a truly results-oriented way. Taking breaks when your productivity begins to dip can maximize your productivity and lead to incredible results. You can work fewer, more effective hours, and no one will look at you sideways.
My Top 6 Best Practices for Working from Home
#1: Pair up with online accountability buddies with Focusmate (www.focusmate.com). I love this service. You might find it helpful too. It pairs you up with a random coworking buddy for a 50-minute working session. Seeing someone else's face on video provides a sense of connection, and you can schedule a session when you notice yourself procrastinating.
#2: Move multiple times during the day. I'll typically do 20 minutes of yoga in the morning, a full hour-long workout in the afternoon, a walk in the early evening before dinner, and plenty of short breaks during the day to stretch, shake, dance, or do some pushups. (By the way, after trying various online yoga subscriptions, I've landed on yoga glo. The interface is clean and the teachers are top-notch – www.glo.com)
#3: Schedule alternating blocks of work and self-care. What works for me is 25-minute working sessions with 5-minute breaks. I'll typically schedule 2 or 3 of these in a row for a 60-minute or 90-minute block on a specific project, then I'll take an hour for self-care. Self-care can be something relaxing, pleasurable, or fun. I put both work and self-care on my calendar and color-code them so I can quickly see the ratio. Figure out the ratio that works for you.
#4: Dial in shopping, cooking, and eating. While I don't have time to cook complicated meals during the day, I stock up every week with a variety of fresh ingredients, sauces, and staples that I can use to make three healthy and delicious meals a day. I savor the process of cooking, eating, and cleaning up. It creates a rhythm in my day that I structure my work around – not the other way around!
#5: Have multiple work zones. Sleep experts recommend not working in the bedroom. If you have space for it, try creating multiple "work zones" within your home. I sometimes work at my desk (with my Aeron chair that I got on Craigslist for $200 [woot woot!] and ergonomic laptop stand, wireless keyboard, and vertical mouse setup). But I also read on the couch, type while standing at the kitchen counter, or take Zoom calls from the balcony. Moving around throughout the day keeps my energy fresh.
#6: Have a closing ritual at the end of your workday. While not everyone does this, one advantage of working in an office is that you can come home and feel like you're done. When you work at home, this transition needs to be more deliberate. I will take 15 minutes to capture my open loops (in Things, my favorite GTD app – www.culturedcode.com/things), review my calendar for the next day, mentally and emotionally let go of any people and projects that are in my space, and declare that my day is DONE. Intentionality helps.
Best of Luck
I hope these tips orient and inspire you to find new working rhythms that truly work for you. You might even love working at home so much that you refuse to return to the office!
What have you discovered about working effectively from home? Please share in the comments so we can all learn from you
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My name is Peter Rubin. After graduating from Stanford and working at two world-class design firms, I followed my purpose and became a transformational coach in 2010. One of my specialties is working with millennial men who are on the road to burnout. I guide them to work smarter, not harder, reclaim their evenings and weekends, and find fulfillment through relationships, personal growth, and spirituality. If this is you – or someone you know – contact me and ask for a complimentary zero-pressure consultation. It would be an honor to support you!