How to Get S*!% Done While You WFH
There were a lot of firsts in Blades Creative's social media last week, from showing up in my stories every single day to sharing what I eat for breakfast. The mundane things, the hard things, the fun things! Yes, I love a curated feed just as much as the next person, but during this time, vulnerability is more important than ever. After an emotional conversation with Hannah, and racking our brains on how we can be helpful, it hit me that something as simple as working from home is new for many of you. During my second week of quarantine I took over the Blades Creative Instagram story with a raw day to day perspective into how I work from home in order to give at least a little bit of guidance to those of you who are making a huge adjustment. I took polls, DM'd colleagues, and collected questions about the issues we all run into with working from home. After these conversations (all from at least six feet away and the vast majority being from behind a computer screen), I found the points below are areas most people need insight on how to make the most of your time working from home.
Planning
All great things happen with at least a little bit of a plan! Personally, I plan my week on Sunday evening, and on the last Sunday of the month, I plan for the month ahead. I’ve found that Google Calendar is the best tool for weekly/monthly planning because I’m familiar with it and it’s so easy to color coordinate. A few things I plan out weekly are:
In-house work
Client Work
Meetings
Me time
Friend/Family Time
When planning monthly, I look through a local events calendar for any networking events I may want to attend (virtual at these times, of course), block out any time I may need to take off, and make sure any recurring events are still on.
On top of weekly/monthly planning, having a daily to-do list can be incredibly helpful and satisfying! Keep it realistic, and check off those to-do’s! If you don’t get everything done, tomorrow is a new day :) Also: if you’re having an off day, add some things to your to-do list that you’ve already done just to have some things to cross off. Sounds silly, but I promise it does something for you mentally.
The personal part of planning your week is just as important as the professional aspect. For me, meal prep is key just to make sure that I’m not scrambling at breakfast time (literally, ha). I also make time to go outside/workout, and even think of a weekly intention Sunday evening to get in the right mind set!
Boundaries
Boundaries are hard. They are hard for me and I just live with my cat, so I can’t even imagine how difficult the change has been for people working from home with their significant other, roommates, kids who are now being home-schooled, or even working from home while caring for someone who is sick. With that said, do your best with the tips below and remember to have grace with yourself!
Space - If you’re in a studio apartment or all you have is your bedroom, find your sacred work space. From converting the kitchen bar to a dedicated work space (you know you won’t be entertaining anytime soon) to working in that comfy chair you never sit in because it’s just for looks, set your workspace apart from the rest of your home.
Time - Give yourself some work hours in your weekly planning, and show up to your space as if you drove to work and made it right on time! Make your to do list for the day, and set a timer to get started! I personally work well with a 45 minute work session, and a 5 minute break (repeat). Time-block the work you need to achieve that day in your calendar. It’s a game changer. During the work day, take the breaks you planned! You deserve it. Have a time you leave your dedicated work space, as if you were heading home from work, and LEAVE IT at that time! You can do this :) Maybe even take a walk after.
Communication- At this time there may be no boundaries on how you want or need to be communicated with, so it’s time to be specific about the times you’re available to be contacted, for how long, and how you want to be communicated with.
Use a tool like Calendly to create time blocks for meetings. I have larger spaces of time available on Mondays and Fridays, and less availability Tuesday through Thursday so I can get a lot of client work done.
Respond to your clients or colleagues in the way that you prefer to be contacted. For example, if you keep receiving text messages and you’d prefer email, respond to their text via email. If you receive a message after your dedicated work hours, do. not. respond. If you are in the middle of a great idea, you do not have to answer the phone. If your friends are texting you about virtual happy hour at 5 PM, silence that group message and keep on chuggin’!
Focus
Now that you’ve planned all the things and you have some boundaries in place, you can really do the work right?! Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. There will always be distractions, and the transition from your typical work space to something new will make it hard to stay on track. Pay attention to what’s taking your attention away. For me, it’s email, Instagram, and cleaning... I know when I get to the cleaning part I am procrastinating.
Figure out your vice and then separate yourself from it, and I mean physically! Close out the email window, move your phone to the other room, don’t look at the mess in the kitchen.
Once you’ve de-cluttered, settle into your favorite background noise. Maybe it’s a favorite band or podcast, or maybe you love working in silence! You do you. I personally love a good playlist. I have creative flow for when I am trying to get design work done and a feel good playlist when I need an energy boost or am feeling celebratory!
When it comes to focus, find what works for you. This will take trial and error, but it will be worth it when you finally see that two hours passed and you got so much done!
Self Care
Lastly (and most importantly), take good care of yourself. This could mean taking 5 minutes to make your bed in the morning to set your space up for productivity. It could mean committing to a daily yoga practice in the mornings to stretch out the stress. It could even mean staring at the wall for 10 minutes during your break to reset. Whatever makes you feel like YOU, keep it up during this time more than ever, and please PLEASE take a day or two off on the weekend. Your employer and your clients will thank you.
We are all having a hard time being productive and staying positive, and that’s ok. None of us have ever experienced a global pandemic of this extent. Do the things that make your day to day easier, like food prep. If you’re feeling sluggish, put some real pants on, a swipe of mascara, or even a favorite pair of shoes. When you’re feeling down, take a moment to breathe deeply and think about the things that make you valuable in your profession. You are needed and you have so much to offer! Reflect on the following: What is something simple in your life that brings you joy? What is something that comes easy to you that you can share with the community? Know that even the smallest things are valuable to someone out there. Through all of this, don’t be hard on yourself. You will have times where you won’t make it to your desk on time or you want to stay in your PJs for a week, and that’s totally ok. You’re doing your best with the tools you’ve been given, and we’re all in this together <3