I’m not someone who’s ever really liked working from home. While I like the idea of it, I’ve never been able to really get into the zone, at least not consistently. Until recently, I had been “getting by”, doing work here and there, but also being somewhat “okay” with being a bit less productive than usual and not really getting as much done as I’d like. I justified this quite easily by thinking that the current situation was all very temporary, and I could make up the lost time later when the world returns to normal. This was true of both my technical work, but also any business development activities that I was hoping to do.
About a month ago however, I decided to make a change. Things didn’t seem to be progressing quickly with COVID and, I suppose somewhat reluctantly, I decided to commit to the working from home life. This meant that I needed to make every day count, just as if I were in the office and the world were normal.
You will all have heard in our recent firm-wide meeting that, for most of us at least, we won’t be going into the office until 2021. Hearing this very much solidified the mindset I had decided to adopt just a few weeks prior. This spurred me on to share with you all my feelings about work now, and to urge any of you “getting-by” to make a change and commit to your current working life.
There have been many excellent articles written by others here about productivity and wellbeing, so I won’t try and top any of them (I frankly can’t). You’ll find an abundance of tips and guidance there over on the stay hub. I would however like to highlight a few aspects that have been most important to me.
Working Environment
The first thing that I think is essential is to commit to your working environment. We now all have a free £150 which we can put towards improving our working environment. For me, the biggest thing has been getting a second screen. I find this absolutely essential for productivity – get one! I know there are some mavericks (looking at you, GVR) who have somehow adapted to the single-screen life, but I’m not one of them. There are plenty of portable screens you can get for around £150, such as Link 1 and Link 2 (full disclosure – I haven’t looked into either of these screens in detail, so I encourage you to do your own research).
One of the great things about portable screens is that they get their power from your laptop, so you don’t need to plug them into the wall and can just plonk them anywhere.
Game changer!
Holiday
The second thing I think is essential is to commit to dividing work time and other time. Particularly, taking proper holidays. It’s now possible to travel easily, within the UK (and somewhat further), to take a real holiday and actually switch off away from your working environment. Many of us (myself included) are in the bad habit of checking emails and/or thinking about work when we’re on holiday. That doesn’t sound like a holiday to me and, speaking from experience, nor does it really feel like it. Take a real one! In about a month I’ll be off to Devon with a bunch of friends. We’ll hang out at the beach, surf, have barbecues – it’ll be dreamy. I’ll do my very best to ignore all emails and take my own advice. Please do call me out if you catch me.
There are plenty of great places to go in the UK for an easy getaway, so do have a proper break for the recharge I’m sure most of us need. I don’t doubt that afterwards you’ll come back refreshed and ready to commit even more.
Remote Business Trip?
Another thing I’ve done was to shift my time zone. About a month ago, around the time I started to commit (maybe this is what triggered it?), I was supposed to be visiting our San Francisco office and the Bay Area to meet current and prospective clients. This is something I would usually like to do at least once a year, so I was disheartened to be unable to do so this year and potentially become out of touch with many promising leads. So, I committed to changing my working hours for two weeks to allow a greater overlap with San Francisco time. Instead of working 10AM-6PM, I instead worked 1PM-11PM. This meant that I could have very regular video calls with those contacts and leads I was hoping to have seen in person. By the end of it, I’d seen and spoken (and given presentations etc.) to all the contacts I had wanted to see, effectively having the same business trip I’d originally planned. By committing to this new time zone, I was able to avoid overly long working days while still conducting the business development I had wanted to. Success!
Now of course I don’t expect everyone’s personal lives to allow such flexibility, however the firm did allow it and therefore it is possible. I can see this being a great tool in future when things are busy and personal circumstances allow, even if it’s just for a few days.
Distractions
A final thing I’d like to highlight is the importance of committing to non-work distractions. I’m not talking about distractions that stifle productivity (social media anyone?), but those to which you can allocate specific productive time and effort. In other words, hobbies. Some have gardens to attend to, some like to knit. I, have a puppy.
The specific point I’m trying to make here is that you must also commit to your distractions. If you’re not 100% working, then be 100% not working and enjoy your distraction. Half working and half watching TV is a sure-fire way to not get much out of either. If you find yourself drifting off away from work and not being able to get “in-the-zone”, stop trying and commit to your distraction (in moderation, of course).
I now split my time between 100% work, and 100% the below:
This means that I’m getting the most out of whatever I’m doing, and prevents the weird feeling of guilt I get when I’m only half working and half doing something else.
Commit!