As of early March 2020, many firms are at least partially shutting down their physical offices and asking their professionals work from home. While most of us have done work from home before, often late at night or on a weekend, many professionals have not worked full time from a home office for any extended period.
I’ve been a marketer exclusively for law firms for the past seven years. I work from a home office. Most of my systems and client relations work is conducted through email, over the phone, or via video. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about being productive when working from home.
Get dressed: It is VERY tempting to work in your jammies. I’m telling you, don’t try it. “Not even once”. You will be more productive if you “show up for work”. Shower, brush your teeth and put on some decent clothes, at least “business casual”. Remember that you’ll probably be connecting with co-workers and clients via video. There’s nothing worse than being caught off guard with” bed head” or no makeup. So, top of mind: While you are in your home, you are still going to work, so you have to tell your brain, “Today is a work day, even though I’m not in my office.”
Keep to your work routine: If you normally work from 8:30AM to 5:00PM, keep to the same schedule if you can. Even when you are working from home, try to live by the same rules you have at work. You wouldn’t leave work to or run home errands in the middle of the day, so you’ll often need to fight the urge to treat work from home like a working vacation.
Create a dedicated workspace: Find a place at home where you can minimize distraction and focus on work. Your kitchen table should not be your desk unless that is your only option. Once you decide on a workspace, stick with it and use it for nothing but work. Clear the workspace from clutter and distractions. This is your “office” where you will be expected to be working. Avoid an occupied bedroom or high traffic areas of the home. Adequate lighting, seating, and room for your computer and work materials are all you need.
Minimize distractions: Maintaining focus, especially in times of anxiety and change, can be difficult. Everything seems to call out for attention- children, partners, social media, news, and that pile of random papers or laundry. If you wouldn’t do it at work, don’t do it during regular office hours. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean that you can crank up Pandora music, watch the news, have Facebook open and play video games with your kid. Focus on doing one thing at a time. And do it well.
Manage your time: Use your calendar to block out specific times for work that requires concentration and scheduled meetings. Use “time boxing” techniques to assign time on your calendar for important tasks. Schedule time between projects to check on email and texts. If you have to, set an alarm at every hour to remind yourself you’re at work. This also works to remind yourself to take a break. Speaking of which…
Keep focused and plan you breaks: Work in sprints of 60 to 90 minutes, then take a ten minute break to walk around and clear your head. Focus on one task and do it well, take a short break, and re-focus. No one can effectively concentrate on work while checking messages, looking at social media, and dealing with external interruptions.
Use your commute time wisely: Remember that long commute to the office? Use the extra 30 free minutes you have now to start your work day when you normally leave the house and end when you would normally return from the office. This can give you an extra hour to deal with those non-work activities that arise during the day. This is especially true if your kids are home from school during this time. So maybe instead of 8:30 to 5, it’s now 8-6 if you haven’t finished what you know you should.
Connect with colleagues: Extraverts don’t like working from home. Some feel a little lost and anxious distanced from their colleagues. Find time in your day for a phone or video app conversation with a co-worker at least once per day. Even better, find ways to brighten someone else’s day with humor or just showing that you care.
Use video meeting apps: Applications like Zoom (free for small meetings up to 45 minutes), Microsoft Teams (free for a limited time), Skype or FaceTime are great, and here’s an article to find more. https://zapier.com/blog/best-video-conferencing-apps/ Connecting via video will probably be awkward at first, but it will help you feel more connected and (more importantly) accountable to each other. After a few days, it will feel normal.
Don’t be too hard on yourself: You will not be 100% productive on your first day. If you find yourself wasting time on unimportant tasks or zoning out, stand up, stretch, walk around, drink some water, and get back to your “todo list”. I personally use Todoist.
Stop working at end of the scheduled day: You need to transition from work mode to home mode, otherwise you end up living in work mode, which produces guilt and anxiety, conflict with family and friends and can lower productivity .Develop an “end-of-work routine” that helps you transition from work mode to home mode. Maybe put an “out-of-office” notice on your messages. “End of work” can also be signified by literally shutting down the computer and putting your phone away. Then start a conversation with your partner, child or a non-work friend.
Important bonus tip: Take time to reflect and be grateful. Every morning I write down 5 things I’m grateful for. Focus on those things that you are grateful for and look for ways that you can help others. In times of crisis and change, it often helps to spend some time to reflect on your situation and evaluate what’s working in your life and what’s not. This includes the people in your life, too.