Tips for Working from Home
Posted on March 19, 2020 by Richard Beynon, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
For those who are new at working from home, we have pulled together some straight-forward ideas to make the process a bit easier.
First, we hope that everyone is healthy and looking after their family as much as possible and keeping them safe as well.
As many of us are on some type of travel restriction, with many of forced to work at home, we here at Better U Coaching have decided to draw up a few tips to make the effort a bit more comfortable.
Set aside a place specifically for work
If possible, commander a spare room with a door if you don’t already have a dedicated workspace. Working from the kitchen table may be ok for a day or two, but this is going to go for much longer than that. Having a place where you don’t need to pick everything up when it comes time to eat dinner will make things easier and less stressful.
Have Good Support
Make sure you have a good chair to sit at. You don’t sit in a kitchen chair at the office. Don’t think that’s a coincidence – you need a different type of support for your back and legs when you are sitting for many hours. While stores are still open, get yourself a chair that will give you more support. Amazon sell several affordable office chairs that are decently comfortable in their Amazon Basics line and there are many for well under $100.
Block out the noise. *
Use earplugs if spouse or kids are making too much noise. The use of noice-cancelling headphones is recommended if you have them, as it allows you to listen to music or other sounds that allow you to focus more.
Take Breaks
When you are working from home, you do not have the same interruptions that you have at the office that may have gotten you out of your chair. It is quite easy to find yourself sitting in the same place for hours on end with no break and that is NOT GOOD. Those of you with an Apple Watch or similar device have a mechanism to remind you to stand once an hour. If not, set a timer on your phone or computer to remind you to get up and move around at least once an hour.
Stay in contact.
For some people, working from home is like being in solitary confinement. Some office cultures tend to forget about the need for inclusion for all, including those who work from home. Make sure you are using the company-approved chat or conferencing tool. However, many companies do not have the necessary bandwidth to support everyone doing everything all at once. So use video chat only when it makes sense and do audio conference calls where possible.
Keep a consistent schedule.
When working from home, it is easy to get caught up with work and lose track of the day. Try to only work during work hours. Make sure you are taking a lunch break.
Get out and get fresh air. *
Just because you are to shelter in place doesn’t mean you cannot leave your house. Avoid contact with other people when possible, but see the sun, take a walk, etc. It is important to stretch your muscles and get some natural vitamin D to help support your mood.
Stay Calm
We know that it is easy to tell people to stay calm, but that is exactly what people need to do right now. There are some good meditation apps and web services that you can use to make sure that you stay in a good frame of mind through out all of this.
Better U Coaching has been a work-from-home workforce since our inception and we are all masters at working from home and being productive. If you are struggling with how to deal with working from home or if your business needs help developing processes around work from home, please contact us and we can help. Info@betterucoaching.com is the best way to connect with us, since we’re often on the phones ourselves.
