A few tips for the newly work-from-home from someone who has done it for a while

Like many, I’ve been watching the Covid-19 scenario closely. The reactions are all over the map from cities, states, and federal governments. Companies are all responding differently. New information comes available every hour making it hard to keep up with the latest. But one thing is consistent across it all: people are largely asked to stay and work at home for somewhere between the next 2 to 12 weeks (someone loan me a crystal ball and I’ll see about tightening that range).

There seems to be a lot of anxiety about working from home for those that haven’t done it before. Maybe they do not have an office, work with a lot of paper, collaborate with the team around them, or simply are anxious about being solo for the activity they spend most of their day on. I have worked from home for more than 6 years full-time, through two companies and many changes in job focus.

Working from home is not easy – especially for the first year. Here are a few tips I can give those giving it a try:

1. Pick a place to be an office that isn’t part of your evening routine. If your office overlaps where you will unwind, you will struggle to leave the office behind. If you are a TV watcher at night, don’t work from the couch. If you enjoy cooking dinner, don’t work from the kitchen counter. Where you work will dictate how easily you can separate your work life from your home life.
2. You will be anxious about whether you are being productive or not, this is guilt from not being in the office. Everyone I have ever spoken to that works from home experienced this feeling. When you first start working from home, it will feel a little bit like you are getting away with something. No commute, wearing comfortable clothes, doing laundry with lunch all feel like you are getting away with something. Try to push the feeling away, but just know you are going to have to deal with it. You are doing nothing wrong.
3. Do not try and sit at your computer from 8a to 5p everyday. You will feel the need to be “online” all the time. But this is no ones habit when they are in the office. Think about all those trips to the coffee machine which end up taking 20 minutes. Think about the conversations about last night’s TV shows. Think about the moments you stare blankly into space because something got to you. These moments are more difficult at home and you need to replace them with something. Take those little breaks.
4. Call people. The hardest part of working from home is the social isolation. Pick up the phone (or Skype or Zoom or system of choice) and call the people you normally talk to. Believe it or not, they will likely appreciate a little disruption just like they would in the office. Make jokes, make small talk, try and keep things like they would otherwise be.
5. Do not fall into the kitchen trap. The food is right there and available. Keep it away. It’s easy to do all the small raids, but over the course of a week or more, it will add up and leave you feeling guilty.
6. Finally, live your life how you need to live it. Working from home gives you freedom while forcing you to be responsible for your work. Take both of those seriously. Do not forgo your life because you feel guilty about work. Do not forgo your work because you have the chance to just get away. Balance is key.

It will be a struggle, but we can all make it through.