07. Five Tips for Working from Home
I’ve been working from home since the beginning of 2020. I haven’t gone to an office since then for a normal work day – so I consider myself kiiiind of an expert by now. Working from home is one of those things that seems like “the goal.” It feels like everyone’s looking for a way to work from home, have flexibility, not have to drive somewhere each day… and honestly, it is super nice and I can’t imagine not doing it anymore.
But with that being said, it can be difficult and it takes discipline and figuring out what works for you. Here are five tangible things that I’ve learned over the past three years and wanted to share them in case they could help you, too.
Maximize your naturally most productive times.
I’ve figured out the best times for me to get the most focused work done is from about 8 a.m. to noon. This is when I shut off all distractions – putting my phone and computer on Focus/Do not disturb mode. This is when I’ll get my most intense or creative work done that needs the most brain power.
In the afternoons, my brain is usually mush and can’t come up with a new idea if my life depended on it. I try to schedule all of my meetings for afternoons, and more monotonous work like scheduling calls and responding to emails or updating content on my websites. It’s crazy how much more work I can get done in a day when I’m maximizing on those naturally productive times – I usually can get most of my work done in those super-focused 3-4 hours in the morning and can do more of the fun work in the afternoon, or break up my day with a workout once my to-do list for clients is finished in the mornings.
Of course every day isn’t like this and sometimes meetings have to be in the mornings, but on the weeks where I can stick to this schedule it’s wild how much more I can get done and not feel so overwhelmed. Everybody is so different too – some people thrive in the afternoons or evenings. Take advantage of the flexibility working from home can give you and figure out what works best.
Communicate to your people that you’re not always “free”.
When you’re working from home, the people in your life often think that this means you have all the free time in the world. Your day looks different than those with a 9-5 and you don’t have the added time of a commute, so maybe you do have a little more time. But for the first year of having my own business and making my own schedule, I was way too excited about the flexibility of not having a boss that I said yes to everything anyone invited me to. Then I realized how overwhelmed I was thinking I had no time to get my work done. You might have this same problem – your friends who also work from home might want to get coffee, breakfast or lunch often because you’re also a friend who’s home during the day. Or you’re the person they call when their daycare or babysitter falls through or when the dog needs let out.
And don’t get me wrong, this is absolutely one of the benefits of working from home and having flexibility. I love being able to go to breakfast sometimes or being able to help babysit for a couple hours. But you don’t always have to be the “yes” man. On days where you need to get work done, you can communicate that.
I’ve started making one day a week – usually Fridays – where I’ll schedule a coffee date with a friend or breakfast. So it feels like a treat and I’ve got a couple hours that day set aside already to be able to mentally have that time free so I’m not stressing about the work I need to do.
And if those days keep popping up where you’re getting called last minute to come watch the kids or let the dog out, you’ve just got to communicate that and let your people know that you’re happy to help when you can, but you’ve still got work to do even though it looks a little different than theirs.
Get ready for your day
This was probably the most important shift I made when I started working from home. I first started working from home when Covid started in 2020, and I’ve been home ever since. The first couple weeks I was so excited to go makeup-free and stay in my sweatpants. I quickly realized that my motivation matched my outfit – my comfy clothes and lack of a routine in getting ready for my day made me feel more sluggish and made a nap way too easy – I was already pretty much in my pajamas so a nap felt natural and happened way too often.
I still wear leggings and comfy clothes most days, but rarely sweatpants and clothes that just make me feel “blah.” Most days I’ll put on a little makeup because it makes me feel ready for my day and I’ll take the time to do something with my hair. This just signals to my mind that I’m ready for a productive day and it’s made the biggest difference in my motivation.
Interact with other humans
I’m more of an introvert and working from home with only my dogs every day seemed ideal. And with my job, it’s a lot of client work that leaves me staring at my computer with only a couple Zoom meetings each week. When you’re at an office job, you have the chit chat that happens at lunch or in the break room, but when you’re by yourself it leaves little to no opportunity for human interaction. Even if you welcome alone time like me, you’ve got to be intentional about getting out and interacting in some form – it keeps you sane.
Sit in a coffee shop for an afternoon – even if you’re not actually meeting with someone, just talking to the barista or being in the vicinity of other people will help a lot.
Pick a finishing time
This is what I hear from a lot of people who are newly working from home – they feel like they have to always be available because they don’t have that definitive finish time of leaving working at 5:00 and having the time to drive home. Pick a time that your work day ends and communicate that to coworkers or clients. For me, I’m done and off of my computer by about 4:30 each day.
I don’t respond to work emails, phone calls or texts after 4:30 until the next day. You set the expectation of how you’re contacted – if you don’t want to be on your email all night or responding to phone calls at the dinner table, then don’t. Most “emergency” work problems aren’t actually emergencies, and they can almost always wait until the next morning. The more you stick to that, the more your clients will catch on and will respect it.
4:30 to like 6:00 has always been a weird, anxious time for me since working from home. I leave my “home office,” our guest room, and then I just kind of walk around aimlessly. My brain is still in work-mode, it’s too early for dinner, and I haven’t had a chance to reset into relax mode, which is what my 40-minute commute home from work used to do for me.
Now, I like to walk my dogs in the afternoon. They know when I shut off my computer and push in my office chair that it’s time for a walk. Even if it’s just 20 minutes, it helps signal to my mind that the work day i’s over and I can shift into evening mode. It takes the place of my drive home and provides a good separation to the day.
All of these tips are things that have worked for me in the last three years of working from home. It’s taken so much trial and error and a ton of unproductive days filled with scrolling social media, too much tv and too many naps. Working from home is such a gift, but it takes discipline and a really intentional shift in your mindset to make it productive for what you need to get out of it.
No one is telling you to stop scrolling on Instagram or looking over your shoulder to make sure you’re working, so it’s on you. Find a flow that works for you and stick to it, and continue to adjust it if you need to.
Do you have tips that have helped you in working from home? I’d love to hear them! Share them with me over on Instagram at @carlyguion.
