Work from home

Get dressed : It may sounds superficial but getting dressed put you in the mood. It’s like wanted to go party and stay in pyjamas. I mean you can but don’t you think that getting dress to go out will help you more with your dance moves ? Don’t think wrong, I am not telling you here how you should dress. I am just saying that super comfy clothes may not help to get things done. So first thing I do when I need to work from home which is basically my daily life. I get dress. I even realized that having a certain “uniform” help a lot. I am not talking about school uniform. I am talking about some stylish signatures.

Morning routine : I know I know, I see you coming. “I hate routine” blablabla.

I was the first to tell that. but guess what, we need it. Really, I am serious. If you want to be concentrate and be efficient, you better work on that. And at the end you will see that this will serve you way more that you think !

It will permit you to be grounded. My morning routine set me in a moon where I actually want to work and sometimes I can’t wait. Because I had enough time for myself before to be ready. It’s just a matter of being ready. Sometimes you just jump into work and your brain did not even had time to get in the surface of water. Is like throwing someone who is sleeping directly in the water. How harsh is that. Get prepared, prepared your brain for concentration. And you will see a huge difference. I promess. You can do it, it’s just one day after an other.

Make a work space :

This is the basics but I know it’s not always that simple. If you don’t have the space or the possibility to have a real space, try to create one. The important is to clean it after work so the day after you will find it clean. If it’s the Kitchen table make sure when you start to have little habits who set you in the mood. put a bottle of water on your side, it can be a way to create a space. Put some books, or tools, what you need to feel that you gonna start to work. It’s about imagination, fool your mind. Make it believe you are in a workspace when you are in the middle of the kitchen. If it’s the floor it’s ok too but remember to be really careful and store your stuff right after. If you let your stuff in the middle of the floor and say it’s your workspace, trying to come the day after it may not work. Because in between you lived in your space, you putted different energy so when you gonna seat again you will not have the “ this is my workspace” vibes. Because you did so many things in between so it will not longer be you workspace. That’s why it’s important (if it’s a “moving space” I mean a space where you gonna also cook or do other things” to clean, pick your stuff after work and bring them back the day after.) I hope you get my point.

Hydrate :

This one sounds obvious but it’s essential. If you don’t, you gonna have a headach or be desydrated and how do you expect to work wisely in that case ?

I hightly advice you to have a bottle of water next to you and to drink regularely.

And if you need to stand up and go pee, just go. It’s a good excuses for breaks. You need this ! Please be really mindful with this one, it’s really important that you don‘t turn into a Camel. we still need you 🙂

Pomodo break – 20 min work 20 min break :
I used to hate breaks, until the day I got huge headaches that stayed 10 days and that stop me to watch any screen. Take care of your health, of your eyes, your brain. Don’t think you gonna be better, more efficient because you don’t take breaks. That’s bullshit. You are just putting yourself in bad health. Seating during multiples hours, lock your hips, it gonna cause tensions into your legs, blood doesn’t circulate fluently, it dry your eyes, and it make them lazy. Making them lazy create headache and bad habits that can lead to other health problems. Trust me you don’t want to go there. So no option here, take breaks.

From what I learn and try a breaks every 20min permit to the brain to take a breathe. During that time some advise to make eyes exercices, which is really helpful. As a creative myself, I know sometimes we need to be in a flow in order to came out with amazing ideas. In that case I recommend to stand up every 40/45min and take a break.

Some creatives even recommend to take fresh air. If you can, and if you are not in quarantine you may want to try that.

There is a method called Pomodo taht you can use, who break times into 20min blocks.

Time blocks :
It’s such a good way to manage your time. Knowing exactly how you gonna use it, and trying to make the most of it. It permit you to be conscient of the time each task take you. Sometimes we plan too little or too much and this is ok, this is how we learn. But I founded really important to estimate the amount of time a tasks will take me. It make me as well value even more the task. It make you in control of what you do.

You can even regroup all the call you need to do ect

I advice to check with yourself and your energy, where is the time in the day when you feel a bit tired ? When do you feel energized ? I make my schedule align as much as I can with my energy. And it change everything.

" Your phone is a work killer ! "

Put your phone away it’s the most disturbing things, a work killer :
I don’t thing I need to explain why this is obvious. This is the number one distraction. Put it away, responding to every text or call every second will waste your energy and you gonna feel so drain and at the same time useless because you will feel that the work is not done.
Make time to respond to your phone, and stick to that time. It’s the worst for concentration to react at every notifications you receive. But that’s your life, you do what you want, I just alarm you.

Your belly can be a distraction too :
Making meal prep was a life changing for my work at home. I was forgetting to eat or eating always too late. I was always feeling tired because I was giving a lot of energy and I was not refulling in a good way. So mealprep changed that. It permit me to not think about what I will eat. One less decision to take in a day AND it avoid you body to stress out. Because yes, you don’t think about it but your body stress out when you don’t have an eating routine. So try to eat everyday at the same hour, it’s how you could maintain you belly and main to stay sain about food. In a part at least. Don’t cause stress that you can actually avoid. And do the dish just after, so you don’t have to do it later. Who likes to have dish you make after work ? No one !

Keep track of what your do :
This is really important for you and your ego. Track what you do. Write your wins even the little ones at the end of the day or you can also make time on a Friday afternoon to summarize your week. It’s a great way to boost yourself and specially your confidence !

It’s also a good way to plan the next week, knowing what have been done.

It’s great to tackle the to-do but if it seems un unlimited list it can feel depressing. So this is your key to be happy with what you do as well. And proud ! IT will push you to continue

Posture :

Try to be mindful with your posture, it can cause you serious tentions. So try to correct yourself. You can add books under your feet if you are seating in a chair, and you feet doesn’t touch the ground. You can have a support to elevate your computer in order to have it align with your eyes position, or put also books under your computer if you don’t have one. Try to put your back on the back of a chair. If you seat on the floor try to have your both hips on the ground and to change regularly your posture.

Remember, breaks.

Office time :

Try to set office hours. It’s important to set boundaries to yourself and with the persons you work with. Working from home doesn’t mean you are available from 7 to midnight. If you want to keep a healthy balance, this is the best advice I can give you. Set office hours and stick to it. This is how you will be productive, and how you could keep yourself motivated.

Observe yourself :
Last but not least, if you are really distracted, it happened it’s ok. Try to write down, what make you distracted. Don’t think too much just write it down and try to get back to work. Try to ask yourself,
What is distracting you ?
What do you try to avoid ?
What are you saying to yourself in your head that stop you to make things done ?
How could you make this things done ?
What could help you ?
Being mindful will really help you to understand what makes you procrastinate and most of time it’s really valuable, we just don’t listen to ourself, while our brain or body are just trying to send us messages.