If you're suddenly working remotely, it can be a big disruption. Here are some tips that can help you stay both effective and healthy while working from home.
Howdy!! π Hope you’re all doing well! In these times of global pandemic, the most important thing is to keep our health and that of our relatives safe! That’s why the lives of many of us have completely changed, either because we are used to working on-site 100% and we find ourselves strangers working from home, or because we can no longer go out on the streets with the freedom that we previously did. π
But you know what? π€... These are the experiences that help us grow as a person and as a professional. In this article, I want to connect with you to tell you about my experience working from home, and I want to share with you the tips that have worked for me on this journey! It’s normal that at some point you feel that time is not enough for you or you do not know what tools to use to make your work more effective or you simply cannot focus easily, but the good news is that you're not wrong for feeling this way. Almost everyone who has gone from working face-to-face to working from home has experienced something similar.
The first thing I have to tell you is that I LOVE working from home. π It’s a lifestyle that we can easily adapt to with discipline and dedication. I will start by leaving a diagram of how I organize my days and the order that I give to each, then I will go into more detail.
It is likely that our working hours are at least eight hours a day… And in order to be able to work for so long, we must take care of our bodies, which is why it is essential to have a reserved space to work in. Our office must have at least the following elements:
β An ergonomic chair that does not make our back suffer
β A table to place our computer and other necessary tools
β Good lighting
β Good audio for our meetings
This space must be totally comfortable and pleasant for us, to keep us comfortable and to give our 100% at work!
It is easy for us to spend extra hours without realizing it, and that can easily cause us to spend the whole day working, and that is not healthy. We must define our schedule, for example: 09:30 AM to 5:30 PM, so we know that our commitment to work will be in that time interval. It help us keep our body relaxed and ready to continue being productive the next day! π
It is necessary to have our daily goals clear, since we can have days in which we have so much work that we do not know where to start and we may spend hours just thinking about where to start. To avoid this, it is very important that at the beginning of the day you make a list of your priorities and everything you have to do, including meetings, pending emails, and everything else.
π To make my to-do list, I use two tools:
A notebook in which I write the list by hand, and I have three colored markers that have different meanings. (Light Green = Activity completed, Dark Green = Activity moved, Red = Activity removed).
Let's see an example: To-Dos for April 17
I use Trello: Here I make my lists electronically. I create a file with the date of each week, and I transfer the completed tasks so that I can visually see how it is going or how my week ended.
π©πΌ My meetings:
For my meetings I use Microsoft Teams, which, because of the global pandemic, Microsoft has made (along with its work tools) totally free so that you can work from home without spending extra bucks. If you are interested, I leave you the link.
Being home we can easily be distracted. That's why we must communicate our working hours to the people who live with us, so they understand that even if we are in the house we will not be available for a few hours.
But in addition to family members, we must understand that there are hours to watch movies, series, or entertainment in general, but we should NOT use our working hours for this.
It is very important to clear our minds. It is recommended to take 5-minute breaks every 30 minutes and then resume our routine. Thus our brain can rest and we can have greater performance as a result.
Never neglect your diet (something that sometimes is difficult for us π ). For the proper functioning of our body, a good diet is necessary. Try to set a schedule for eating and try not to make these two frequent mistakes:
π² Eating at your workstation: You must set a distance between your space to work and your space to lunch. In addition, this helps us keep our workspace cleaner and more organized.
π΄ Thinking you’ll eat “someday” when you remember or when your stomach tells you. Stick to a schedule instead.
It's important to apply each of these tips to get a good handle on time, resources and focus working from home! I hope with all my heart that you put them into practice and they will be of great benefit to you! π
Thanks for reading my article! ππ
Leomaris Reyes is a Software Engineer from the Dominican Republic, with more than 5 years of experience. A Xamarin Certified Mobile Developer, she is also the founder of Stemelle, an entity that works with software developers, training and mentoring with a main goal of including women in Tech. Leomaris really loves learning new things! ππ You can follow her: Twitter, LinkedIn , AskXammy and Medium.