Many of us are now juggling Working From Home (WFH) with distractions – from homeschooling to working around the tradie who suddenly arrived to do that thing you didn’t plan being around for. Here are a couple of tips to help make the ‘new normal’ seem, well, a little more normal.
1. Create A Space
First of all, it’s important to create a space that is about work, one that tells your brain ‘this is where I work productively’. That’s not the couch in front of the television. This place needs to trigger the idea of daily routine – somewhere you go to at the start of the working day, and somewhere you leave at the end of that day.
TIP: Avoid Distractions It might be productive to do the laundry while your PC boots up, but it becomes a distraction. Try to keep your brain at work by keeping your activity about work. Schedule non-work tasks for a different part of the day.
2. Create A Schedule
Just like working in the office, WFH requires a schedule. It helps you shape your day and your week, and gives structure to the work you’re doing. Not that a schedule should be just about work. Build in breaks for lunch and other activities. If you need to make time for a child or someone else in your household, build that into the schedule. That way, when you’re at work, you’ll be focussed on work.
TIP: Make A List Lists are great, and one of the best ways to stay motivated is by ticking another item off a list. It can be thought of as a reward for successfully completing a task and coming to the end of a time block. It also helps you structure your day more productively.
3. Collaborate
Find a way to see your colleagues. Zoom has become a byword for video conferencing these days because it has now gone mainstream. And that’s because talking face to face, as you would in the office, is the best way to collaborate. Communication is as much a visual exchange as it is audible. Phones are OK but you understand more when you see the response. Google Meet is a big player in the VC space and offers chat facilities which is great for a quick confirmation or request.
TIP: Make a Group Most VC platforms allow you to create a group of colleagues quickly and easily. It’s a simple way to check in with all your team at once, to collaborate and stay abreast of what everyone is doing and how they’re feeling.
