Personal insights into working from home, this may surprise some.

How do I navigate myself while I work from home? For me, its been a long journey turning inward before being able to move outward when first I started a work from home role about 3 -4 years ago. It has been a rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows. However, I feel I am in a great place now and would like to share some insights that I experienced and no doubt you will also come across at some point while working from home.

The first thing I need you to do right now is to sit up straight with your shoulders back. Now smile or put on a cheesy grin…… go on…… Because working from home is more about your state of mind than anything else. By simply changing your posture your mind will follow. But who’s looking you’re asking? errrr nobody is ! That is where the challenge is.

 I hope these insights supports and aides you to think about how to make your working from home a positive experience for you and your business. All the best on your new journey.

1. Do some form of activity in the morning before you start work. Why? Because now you don’t have the “commute time” from home to office where you were getting out and doing some form of activity. For me it’s taking the children to school, parking the car down the road and walking or scooting some of the way to ensure I get some “commute time” and activity.  If you don’t have kids, would you like to look after mine? What will be your “commute time” replacement? How will you get the serotonin flowing before you start working?
2. Write your to-do list the night before. This was a game-changer for me. Why? Because in the office you have your morning gossip time, catch-ups, early coffee meetings, people asking if you have read their “urgent” emails, office noise etc. Working from home is quite and for some it’s hard to deal with this sudden quietness so you fill your morning with noise from news websites, music and non-urgent emails, putting on a clothes wash etc. Writing your to-do list the night before and prioritizing those tasks will help you get started straight away and not provide a platform for Mr. Procrastinator turning up in your head luring you to think that cutting your toenails is more important than producing a great mornings work. Progress and achievement makes everyone feel good, I love seeing a to-do list with it all ticked off and then I remind myself of a good job well done, because there is no else around to tell you anymore that you are ok and you’re doing well, hmmmmmmm when was the last time you spoke to yourself in this positive way? You probably haven't truly heard yourself speak before with all that office noise. And you will be doing a lot of talking to yourself and your inner critic. Beat the inner critic and Mr Procrastinator and stick to that premade to-do list.
3. Schedule in some ME time. The keyword here is schedule. Normally in the office you have water cooler chats, doing the coffee rounds – I always hated to do this as everyone wanted something different and I could never please everybody in getting the right shade of brown. For some in your lunchtime, you went to the gym or went out shopping or waited in incredibly long ques for katsu chicken curry. So, I recommend scheduling ME time that is non-work related and is something that lifts your mind to a lighter state. Your day will be intense, and you will be putting extra strain on yourself because there is no one around again to bounce off with or check-in to ensure you that you are ok today and are indeed doing well. You and yourself are all you have now. Elevate your mind towards something that builds you up, maybe that is learning a new hobby or reading something that helps further your career. Schedule ME time in and protect this time at all costs.
4.  What time of the day does your mind start to wander? 2 pm? 3 pm? You will know sooner or later. My personal recommendation is to identify it, ponder on it and deal with it. I would recommend doing tasks that don’t take strenuous thinking. This is when I do my emails, setting up meetings, calling on those awaked follow-ups and cold calls. The main factor here is to be people-focused and reaching out to others moment. How will you deal with your wandering mind in the midafternoon? And wander it will…… wow my grass is really green out there today…… I wonder who’s cat that belongs to ? Gosh, I need some sun, I need to get out more…..I really don’t like that Trivago lady, since when can she get a cheaper rate than going direct to the hotel arghhhh….
5.  For our loving parents out there.  Ah those lovely darling children whom you dropped off at school with a loving kiss on the head and gentle wave goodbye followed up with a burning rubber as you quickly drove off in a state of feeling that you are now free for the next 8 hours, life is now good and you can be all you want to be…… until…. 3pm of course! Feel the anxiety rising? this is normal. You know that at 3pm that they will be hungry, tried, complaining about everything in their little lives, they want the TV on, they want you to play games with them, they want you to print out something to colour in, they want you to balance a table on your nose like they just saw on Britain’s Got Talent and the requests will go on and on. Why because you are their slave of course. You have just realized that as a parent working from home now presents a new challenge, however, alas you have a friend in me. I recommend boarding school. Yes, that is all I recommend, boarding school. Ah I can’t leave you hanging there. Key takeaway here is that your children are going through the same feelings as you are. They too have had an intense day full of worry, laughter, resentment, fun, anger, internal highs and internal lows. Instead of giving your little darlings a large glass of chilled wine to chill out, you are going to have to plan what is going to keep them busy and quiet while you finish your work. Every family is different. For me, I put out a plate of afternoon tea with colouring in items ready on the table when they walk in. This is to ensure their blood sugar levels are levelled, they have quite time to switch their minds from being at school to now being at home and this provides a less intense moment of the day for everyone because you haven’t finished work and you are still in work mode. There is no perfect plan, but identify that this can maybe be an intense and stressful time of day for you and should press you to think of a plan and how will you remain in state of keeping calm and carrying on?
6. Finally, how will you switch off from your work state of mind to home and family state of mind? Why? Because normally you have office to home “commute downtime”, where you would read a book, finish emails, thinking time which consists mostly of wandering how that person has a nicer suit than me, I wonder what they do for a living, why is everyone better than me!. There is no one around now to compare yourself too or standardize your self against. You are your own standards and you are own critic. Working from home means that it’s difficult to know how much-completed work is enough, which then leads to how can I switch off from my overworked mind. I would highly recommend you end your day in writing your next days to-do list, empty your mind before you head upstairs or start that short stroll from your new office kitchen to your home lounge. Empty all work-related matters in your mind onto paper. Maybe you could think about another activity moment, maybe go the gym to let out any work frustrated matters, walk it off, just don’t take it out on others in your home. Then thank yourself for a great days work, gaze on all those ticks you have achieved and remind yourself you are a human being and that the world will never say you have done enough or that you are enough. The Psalmist puts it's like this “ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” How will you manage to switch your work mind off before engaging with your loved ones?

All the best in the coming months, my thoughts and prayers are with you all during these uncertain and rapidly changing times.

Andrew