How to Organize Your Work from Home: Problems and Solutions
For many people working from home has become a solution to many problems, for example, doing so you can better manage your time according to your own biorhythms and spend it more effectively.
That’s what I chose.
For the last 6 years, I have been working remotely. All this time I have been a full-time mom for my two daughters and an adopted cat. Therefore, I know for sure that when you begin to work from home, you will encounter certain difficulties.
I’ll tell you how to cope with them.
Time management
Getting distracted is very easy. You have so many objects for procrastination at home. Things get complicated if other family members are at home too: it’s difficult to focus on your work, to build boundaries, to start and end a working day.
Work and life balance
When you work from home it seems there is no time to rest as there is no change of scenery. It is mostly a case with international companies where employees are located in different parts of the world.
Feeling lonely and isolated
Building a social cocoon on your own is not easy. Especially if you used to be socialized by various groups: in the kindergarten, at school, in the office. Social interaction is to become your own initiative.
Even if you are an introvert there is a certain amount of exchange, communication with other people when you are in the office.
In case of working from home communication becomes harder and tension stronger as there’s no physical presence (facial expressions, gestures) of people beside you.
Communication
It is much easier to ask a question or ask for help/advice when you are not alone. Working from home creates a vacuum due to the feeling of detachment and slower reaction to requests.
Therefore, involvement is getting weaker; it is no longer clear to people around you what you are doing, what tasks you are coping with. The transparency of your activity is decreasing while the need to demonstrate your progress is doing quite the opposite.
What can be done?
- Schedule. You will have to make a deal with yourself and relatives. Get ready for your working day, take off your pajamas) The trigger could be changing into a more strict or “business-like” clothes. It is very important to create a switching mechanism and/or a work ritual as soon as possible.
2. The working space. Triggers are determined by the external environment. Separate a working area in your house: let it be a flower or a mug that are always on the desk. Alternatively, you can work from a cafe or a co-working zone/library, i.e. a place where other people work if the nature of your work allows it. Nowadays this option doesn’t seem to be right so, instead, you may try Focusmate to feel social “pressure”.
3. Overcommunication. Communicate more! Practice regular, more frequent phone sessions or off-duty conversations. If possible, turn on the webcam. Report to the maximum (in writing or orally): in more detail and more often to be more visible to your colleagues.
Try these apps for this: Zoom, Discordapp, Hangouts, Meet.
Free access to advanced features G Suite і G Suite for Education will open until July 1.
4. Breaks. When you work from home you will inevitably encounter the problem of having regular breaks. Allow yourself to sleep or to do sports during your breaks.
This is a plus — you can choose an activity to fit in a break, and not just go for lunch. Vigor for the afternoon is guaranteed. It is better to spend some time in the fresh air. Turn on your imagination or do what you have long dreamed of — come up with a diversion!
Perhaps you won’t be able to do all of the above at once. What I understood from my own experience is that first of all you need to come to an agreement with yourself. Children, husbands, cats and dishes — they’ll wait. The main thing is to understand your problems and solve them one by one.
Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
PS. Other useful resources to make your work from home more effective:
from Linkedin,
from Microsoft: this one and another one.
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