How to work from home (and stay sane) during quarantine
My little desk space
The world is going through a big challenge, never in my life I’ve seen a health crisis hitting the whole world at the same time and requiring millions of people to suddenly suspend their daily lives and reduce them to their home space.
Among these changes there is the one from many people to work from home. I’ve been working from home for more than 3 years now and it took me a couple of these years to truly find my rhythm and feel sane working everyday from my desk.
I experimented with different routines, trying to work earlier or later, imposing a strict schedule and structure as well as having no structure at all.
Last week I did an Instagram Live exactly on this topic and I decided to put together a more comprehensive blog post that would allow you to find all the main tips in the same place. I really hope these practices help you in the next few weeks and beyond ! Who knows, you may fall in love with working from home!
Let’s get started :
Create a morning routine that sets you up for success
You may have heard of complicated morning routines from celebrity tabloids and quickly realized that it’ll never work from you. What I’m proposing here it’s much simpler and it’s the only “routine” that worked for me personally :
Block a time in the morning to get ready before sitting at your desk
Keep your phone and laptop off until you sit at that desk to work
The way in which I use my morning time is to do simple but very essential things that guarantee that I’m feeling good to be available to the outside world like :
Making the bed ( this is a game changer to feel like your room is tidy and you are less inclined to go back to bed )
Taking a shower and getting dressed as if I’m going to an office ( it’s incredible how this step makes you feel ready to face other people, even if only digitally )
Eat a healthy breakfast ( you need energy to work so make sure you feed yourself so you’ll avoid taking a break half an hour into your work )
Move your body ( this can look like some stretches, a yoga class, dancing in the kitchen, basically anything that connects you to your body and wakes you up )
Journal or any spiritual practice you need ( I find that journalling about gratitude or simply emptying my brain from worries help me feel grounded and ready to work )
2. Keep your normal office hours
Another very good question I got asked during the IG Live is how to avoid working all day long since there is such a blurred line between work and personal life at home.
A big tip is to stick to your work hours as if you were in the office.
The morning routine allows you to set a starting time and remember to carve out specific times to eat, take breaks and finish work.
For example it may look like :
Morning routine from 8H to 10H
Work from 10 to 13H ( with a 15 min break in the middle )
Lunch for one hour
Work again from 14H to 19H ( with a couple of 15 min breaks )
Dinner and start to wind down
This may seem obvious but trust me, when you don’t have colleagues around you it’s quite hard to set these boundaries. Working from home does require more discipline and structure.
A useful practice I do that you may adapt to your needs is to use time slots to do “focused work” during the day. For me it looks like setting my phone on airplane mode for about 1h and set a timer so I’m not tempted to get distracted.
There is also a technique called “Pomodoro technique” where you set a 25 minutes timer with a 5 minutes break before starting work again. You can Google it to find more about it.
3. Limit your news and social media intake
I’ve spent the whole day last Monday looking at the news. The lockdown had been just announced and I was glued at the screen ending the day feeling restless and anxious.
I’ve quickly realized that I couldn’t spend my quarantine time like that ! It would have been awful for my mental health and absolutely useless.
So I’ve decided to check the news only once a day, because let’s be honest , there is little we can do at the moment apart from staying home, washing our hands and maintain our sanity.
I truly believe this period of global pause it’s meant for us and not against us and it can be an amazing opportunity to slow down and take care of yourself and the things you’ve always put off doing in your home.
We’re not used to stay still as the world goes so fast around us and especially living in a big city life is full of distractions 24/7 and jumping on a plane has never been so easy.
Nature is healing at an incredible speed right now which shows us that climate change can be achieved in a short time If we only let nature do its thing without our interference so that can be a special time to nurture our inner nature and maybe make that change in life we’ve always dreamed about.
By limiting social media and news intake you can access yourself and find so much calm for your future self.
4. Start a new mindful and creative hobby
Being at home all day long make it harder to discern how to use your time properly in a way that nourishes yourself.
This can be such an amazing time to take on a creative hobby to switch off from work at the end ( or in the middle ) of the day.
Some ideas are :
Read a new fiction/non-fiction book
Draw or paint
Watch a movie ( you can find lists online of the 100 best movies to watch )
Cook and bake ( I’m making sweet potatoes brownies today)
Do some personal development exploration ( I’ve created The Passion Test that you can take here for free )
Exercise with an online video ( there are tons of yoga, pilates, fitness videos on Youtube and so many instructors are offering live classes online )
Meditate ( meditation is an amazing tool to feel present and go back to your body when your mind goes crazy)
Learn a new skill with an online class ( language, an instrument…lots of universities are offering free online courses)
5. Set up a cosy and clean desk space
It’s much easier to work when your desk is nice and inviting.
Think of interacting with your 5 senses and set up your space with candles , essential oils at easy reach, flowers, pretty pens, a big glass of water next to you and anything you may need to feel inspired and productive. A good lighting or being close to natural light from a window is also super helpful to feel healthy and awake.
Something I like to do since I’ve been living in my current apartment, is to write my monthly goals and stick them on the wall in front of my desk together with a calendar and inspiring quotes so every time I look up I know what I’m working towards and why.
At the end of the day declutter your working space so you’ll find it nice and clean for the day after. Clearing the space it’s also a nice way to determine the end of your work day! It will signal to your brain that it’s time to move on with the personal part of the day.
I also like to take a shower or wash my hands to wash off the energy of the work day.
6. Don’t worry if you mess up
I honestly took 1,5 years to figure out a rhythm that worked for me.
Finding yours will require some experimentation and time so don’t beat yourself up if the first few days you wasted time, stayed in your pj all day, got distracted by the news, had a panic attack or watched a Friends’ marathon all day long.
These things are normal and you’re human so don’t worry too much.
Take it with curiosity as a way to get to now yourself better :
Are you more productive in the morning/afternoon/evening?
What is a good time for your meals?
Can you set up coffee breaks over Skype with some friends during the week?
What makes you move your body?
Which meals can you prepare in advance for the day?
Which hobbies help you switch off from the day ?
I hope these tips were useful and I’d love to hear yours! Comment below with your best practices from working from home or the challenges you’re experiencing since quarantine started.
TAKE THE PASSION TEST
What about using this time to discover what you’re truly passionate about?
I’ve created THE PASSION TEST exactly to help you do that. Use 15 minutes of your day to go through this fun discovery test that you can download here for free.
CONNECT WITH ME
Let’s keep this conversation going! Come join me on Instagram or Facebook @alessiagandolfocoaching.
Want to make magic together ? Learn more about my 1:1 Coaching Packages here.
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