Most people with office jobs have likely worked from home before. However, the majority of us have probably never done it for an extended period, and the way it currently looks like is that we will have to do it for at least another three to four weeks. In order to stay productive, sane and healthy (apart from anti-Coronovirus measures), we wanted to share our best WFH practices.
First off, make sure your “home office” is set up in a way that allows you to work comfortably and doesn’t cause any back or neck pain. Hunching over your laptop for eight hours a day will make you feel miserable pretty quickly. Try and put your laptop on a stand or stack of books so that the screen is on eye level. Invest in a mouse and a keyboard, so you can keep those at elbow level and sit in an upright and healthy posture. Keeping a distance is not only important to avoid virus infections, but also to protect your eyes. Don’t sit too close to your laptop screen and if you have glasses with blue light filtering lenses, wear them!
Next on our list is keeping or rather establishing a new routine. This helps with getting a sense of normalcy and distinguishing your work day at home from your weekend at home.
Set an alarm and get up a good amount of time before work starts so you can to get in some body movement and wake yourself up with stretching, yoga, or even a run if you’re up for it. Even if you are not going anywhere, put on some decent clothes, as it will make you feel more productive and ready to work. Eat breakfast, or don’t, and write a to-do list for the day while you fire up your computer. Don’t be overly ambitious and set realistic goals that you can actually get done in a day.
As you work away, remember to keep moving. Since you haven’t left home and might not do so for the rest of the day, get up and walk around or stretch for five minutes every hour. You can even do that while being on a conference call! You are not tied to your home office desk, so switch things up and take your laptop to lounge on your couch for a bit or stand at your kitchen counter.
Speaking of kitchen: Lunch time is around the corner! Actually take a break and eat lunch away from your laptop so you don’t get interrupted by emails that are popping up. Treat yourself with some chocolate or a cookie for dessert to keep the mood up and be more motivated for the second half of the day. To get over the afternoon slump, you can also go for a quick walk, but remember to keep a distance!
During breaks or after you’re done with work, give yourself and your eyes some digital rest and try not to be on your phone. Read a book, cook a new recipe, go for another walk, take care of your plants, play an instrument, draw something or journal your thoughts with an actual pen and paper.
Last but not least, your work from home day is still a weekday, so go to bed around the same time as if you would go to the office the next day and get a full night’s sleep.
We hope this helps with improving your work from home routine until we can all meet in the office again. Stay safe and healthy everyone!