With the whole world affected now and so so many people forced to work from home, these are strange and uncertain times.
It's not like we can pop out and buy all that we need to set up our home offices but there are things you can do to carve out a piece of home to create you office space. Plus I'll be sharing my tips for how to work from home and staying sane (well as much as you can), especially in this situation, it's not just about the desk space it's a new mentality and way of working.
So first things first, you need to find where is best for you to work that suits you, so if you need utter silence go and find the quietest part of the house, maybe you need lots of light then reposition your desk in front of a window. It could be the kitchen table for some is the best option or maybe you need to be around for other people so need to be more centrally located.
If you can't carve out a specific space then make sure you pack away all of your work bits such as laptop, notepads etc after a days work and if possible move into another room for the evening. You need to be able to create a distinction between where you're based during the day and evening if possible. Otherwise you'll feel you're in the same space aaaallll day and eeevery day!
Having a tidy desk space definitely helps with your mindset, or working in a tidy room can help you feel more productive, and I suppose more in control of the situation, which could be a very big factor currently with peoples mindsets. So maybe take 5mins before starting work to tidy the room and remove any clutter/distraction so you can focus solely on your work.
Add a plant to your workspace, maybe a photo of something that makes you smile, or change your computers screensaver to something fun rather than the boring black screen!
Then there can be the small implication of sharing your workspace with your beloved other half/flatmate/brother/sister/friend etc.
Not everyone can have a separate work area in their homes and I for one am now sharing my space (as I already worked from home) with my husband who did not! So again you need to work out what works for all and how best to share the space - we don't want extra stress and arguments at the moment do we.
Then once you have your space and area set up make sure you plan your day accordingly. Here are my tips for how we've been surviving working from home and sharing our office space.
So currently we use a table which is situated in what we call the 'playroom' but it is in fact a multi functioning room (dining room, chill out room as there's no TV). We have adapted this space and created a more user friendly office area for now and the children use the living room for their toys instead. We relocated the desk to in front of the back window so there is more light but we can see the children outside and it's a great view to see when working.
How do we manage our days? Well for anyone who are also home schooling, like we are, this has been a BIG adjustment. So we're still figuring it out and I'm sure we'll get better, but for now we take turns throughout the day to use the office space and work. The other then is on homeschooling duties. The amount of time varies each day depending each others schedules and I'll be honest there's more evening working to make up for time where we've broken away to be with the children.
How to help keep your sanity....
Regular breaks to stretch our legs and get away from the screen.
We take daily walks outside and mix up which direction we walk in.
We are both trying to add in exercise to our daily routines (I've slightly given up on PE with Joe - don't judge me)
Yoga
Meditation
I've limited how much news I watch as it was actually distracting me from working properly.
Drink less caffeine
Most importantly - don't put yourself under any pressure to match the way you used to work in the office!
I hope these ideas and tips can help you make sure you are making the most of working from home, are creating the right environment to allow you to be able to work and be more productive and also how to maintain you mental health during these times.
Stay safe.
NB x
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