Almost exactly a year ago the world changed as COVID-19 cases started rising around the world and many companies transitioned their employees from working in the office to working at home. It was around that time that I wrote my six tips for how to transition into your new work space successfully.
A year has passed since COVID-19 disrupted our lives and many people are still working at home with no return to the office in sight. With that in mind, I thought I’d give you a few more things that have kept me sane working from home – especially in the past year.
1) Exercise – It is incredibly easy to get stuck in the routine of living on your couch or in your office chair and only walking 50 steps a day when you’re working from home. Before you know it, it’s six months later and your body protests if you try to spend half an hour exercising. Now that the weather is changing for the better in most Northern Hemisphere countries, it’s time to schedule a point in your day to get up and go outside (or to the gym if they are open in your area).
I am admittedly bad at exercising unless I have a goal I want to hit, so convincing myself to exercise can be a struggle. One of the few good things about COVID-19, however, is that many marathons, 5Ks and even longer term exercise-related activities are online. Last Fall I signed up to walk a virtual 5K for the Retired Racehorse Project and this month I’ve signed up to walk a certain distance over the next three months to help Feeding America. If you’ve had an exercise goal in mind, make it your mission to achieve it this year.
2) Keep Your House Clean – One thing that is easy to forget about when your house is your office is household chores. Usually I take every Monday off and spend part of the day cleaning the house so it is set for the week. I find that if I don’t do this, I get distracted during the work week by things I see that need to be done. This is especially true for me in the room I’ve turned into my office – if it isn’t clean, I can’t focus on my real work until I put everything where it needs to be.
3) Take Breaks – In addition to the exercise break I talked about above, taking 15 minutes off after you’ve finished a task can be a real brain refresher. In a community office many of us get these breaks when a co-worker stops by our desk to gossip or when we go to the bathroom. Unless you live with someone who also works from home, you likely aren’t getting the mental breaks that keep you on the top of your game at the office.
4) Enjoy Your Hobbies – If you already have a hobby that wasn’t affected by COVID-19 then make sure you still take time to enjoy it. If your hobby has been affected by the outbreak then it’s the perfect time to explore other hobbies.
Many of my hobbies have been affected by the pandemic so I’ve personally taken up “gardening” in my apartment. Something I’ve thought about doing for years, I jumped in with both feet over the winter after asking family members to get me indoor gardening items for Christmas and got an Aerogarden plus a few other things. I only have a very small deck so I’ve had to improvise and set up a “gardening table” in my dining room where I have vegetables growing. Watching them grow has been incredibly fulfilling!
I’ve also expanded one of my previous hobbies – reading. Since I’m not a big television watcher, now that I’m home a lot more often I also read more. Each of the past four or five years I’ve set a goal on how many books I’ll read a year and this year took it a bit further by setting a page goal as well. I’m aiming to read 25,000 pages in 2021 (I read 24,957 last year and was frustrated that I didn’t get the extra 43 pages – hence the goal this year), which is helped by my limited traveling and many local activities still being shut down.
5) Try To Work Outside the House One Day a Week – This one can be hard depending on your area’s current COVID protocols. But if a coffee shop or other work-friendly place is open – or even if a friend is also working from home – try to schedule time to go there and work.
I have a coffee shop about two miles down the road so when they let people sit inside, I pack up my computer and head there every Friday for at least half the day. I find that I work better with that change of scenery and it also makes me more productive the rest of the week.
6) Zoom Work Dates – One thing that friends and I have started doing whenever one of us is in a rut is having “Zoom Work Dates.” Basically we’ll have a few hours where we all continue doing whatever work we were doing alone but if we need an opinion or a quick chat, we have someone there to brainstorm with. For me personally, it helps on days I have writer’s block because sometimes talking while staring at the white, empty page helps get my creativity going again.
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