HOW TO: Work from home during a pandemic
Dear Raquel,
I live alone and am working from home too, but I’m finding it really hard to focus. Any tips and tricks to stay on track?
Sincerely,
Distracted
Dear Distracted,
First of all –you have gainful employment during a pandemic. Let me guess, you got engaged over the holidays and still look good in a bikini, too? Slow your roll sister we GET IT, you’re winning 2020.
But while we’re subtly tossing humble brags out into the void of the internet, despite what my Twitter and this dumb blog that approximately four people read will tell you, I too, have a job. It’s a pretty good one, I’m kind of a manager….because I can’t be managed!
ANYWAY, I’ve also been working from home since the city folded up like an accordion and so I can totally relate to your struggle. HOOOO BOY has it ever been hard! It’s tough when your co-worker is literally YOU. I am so sick of me! I’m annoying! My commute is 30 seconds each morning and I’m always late with my hair matted and my clothes on inside out. I leave the coffee, half-drunk (drank?) for hours just growing cold and thick and staining my novelty mugs. My dirty dishes just sit on the counter from lunch until I use them again at dinner time. I’m an animal! I’d love to get me fired but I need this job to float my nasty little bathing suit buying habit.
Before I list my hottest tips and tricks for making the WFH life as productive as possible, I’d like to preface this by saying, I know nothing. If you’ve read any of my other blog posts that much is clear already but I must reiterate for insurance purposes. In fact, the only thing I’ve learned in my 27 years of life is that truly no one else knows anything either and literally everyone you know does cocaine. Literally! Everyone!
The only advice I can earnestly give you is that, we are in a, now say it with me, P A N D E M I C. The world is falling apart. A literal Dorito is driving the US into the ground, “Kim, there’s people that are dying!” and I do my makeup just to walk around the block in a face mask. Things are not “business as usual” despite what your company tells you.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, below are some tips and tricks I like to use to stay as on track, motivated and productive as possible while I WERK IT.
Tip #1: Adjust your hours (if your job so allows)
I stay up LATE. Like 1am, 2am, 3am just frantically bouncing from Instagram to Twitter to Reddit to Gmail over and over and over again until I finally fall asleep, a hole burned into my palm. Because of this, it’s a bit hard for me to make my 8:30am start. I’ve realized that waking up around 8:45–9:00am to start around 9:15–9:30am works much better for me and my chaotic sleep schedule. Of course, if I have meetings I sometimes adjust this but generally I start a bit later and end a bit later. Winning!
Tip #2: Invest in your set-up
Again, RICH coming from me as someone who only just bought a proper desk last month and up until last Friday, was using a patio chair as my office chair. But now that I have a tiny corner of my glorified studio apartment designated as “le office” I have found that I feel much more organized and thus, productive. Maybe you’re like me and you’ve avoided buying necessary equipment and furniture because it makes this whole pandemic/work-from-home thing feel permanent. I get that. But just buy the keyboard and the desk — you’re going to get carpal tunnel and text neck anyway, might as well be sitting in a better chair.
Tip #3: Have a Kit Kat, Have a Break
For the first few months of WFH, I rarely took breaks because I felt guilty. For some reason, I felt like I had to work longer, uninterrupted hours to prove (to no one in particular) that I was still a valuable and dedicated employee even when working within a .01km radius of my Queen-sized Endy (that’s another brag). I would go to get water and hear my email ding and would immediately rush back over to my laptop to answer, dehydrated and desperate. Can you say stage five clinger?! Needless to say, that behaviour didn’t last long and resulted in several panic attacks that can only be described as “big feral hog energy.”
Burn out is not healthy and I can’t afford to exacerbate my adult acne any further so now I take time to chill throughout the day. In the office, I would spend time chatting with my co-workers, loitering by the coffee machine and walking around during my lunch hour anyway, so now I just try to factor in the same kind of natural breaks at home. I go for walks around the block and sometimes sit out on my balcony to eat lunch or have a coffee or stare out at the hot construction guys working across the street, dreaming of 2021 when I can feel the warm embrace of another man’s touch again.
Tip #4: Be honest and reach out if you be strugglin’
This tip won’t help you get your spreadsheets done or your calls made but I think it’s important to note anyway. This whole pandemic/social distancing/working from home/quarantine thing is challenging. The “it could always be worse” way of thinking just isn’t helpful. Perspective is important, of course, but your lived experience is your reality! If it sucks for you today, it sucks! You can’t hold compassion for others if you aren’t willing to give it to yourself (cue: cease and desist from Brene Brown’s people). Be open and honest with friends and colleagues about how you’re feeling, your workload and if you need some extra help or just a quick minute to vent. It’s a pandemic, not a productivity contest. Everyone’s just doing their best (and blow).
