5 Tips for Working at Home During COVID-19
By Victoria Cobb, Family Foundation President and Proud Mom of Four Kids!
1) Create A Work Space You Love: We all remember the lyric, “workin’ 9 to 5.” I think it was even a television show. Anyway, that’s never really been my work experience, nor my husband’s. Since both of us have jobs that creep well outside the usual workday timeframe, we bought a house with an office. However, it wasn’t until I was home working every day that I realized I hated our home office. Over time it had become a place where we stored too much stuff. Bills overflow the drawers and books exceed the shelf space.
So first step, you need to make it your own space—after all, in Virginia, by decree of the Governor, this could last until June 10! Small adjustments can make a big difference—like putting your desk near a window; bringing home your work desk calendar to stay on track; or clearing off other home files and creating a “go-to” file holder for yourself.
2) Stock Your Space: Part of the “making it your own” process is minimizing disruptions. For me, this means having a little area or side shelf that is stocked with my fuel supply—my usual Yeti full of coffee and a filled water bottle. While I won’t drink the water until much later in the morning, if I were to go fill it in my kitchen at 10 or 11 am, I would inevitably notice the mess of dishes that now fill my sink—and just seeing that would derail both my emotional state and my time management. (I’m also likely to run into many children who will have questions, comments and who knows what else!)
Also helpful for avoiding distractions: I always have tissues, a trashcan, my cell phone and my beloved headphones— which I’m considering upgrading to being noise canceling if the budget permits.
3) Keep a Consistent Schedule. As mentioned, I’ve never really worked strictly during office hours. However, now more than ever, I am cutting off my work at 5pm. A hard cut-off is helpful since— to limit the interruptions of my children—they have to know that, at a specific moment in time, they will have my undivided attention. This workday conclusion is part of family commitment to sanity during the day. However, even if children aren’t in the home, life balance dictates a shut off time.
Everyone is aware that much of what happens in a typical office—meetings, trips to coworkers’ offices to chat— is not pure work execution. It’s relational and quite frankly, human. With much less of that, it seems we need to return to relationship and human interaction in our families as soon as possible. And no, I don’t count Zoom meetings as relational. Better than nothing, but not a chat by the water cooler. Even if you are alone, returning to a favorite place, like your garden, will help refresh the soul.
4) Clarify Family “Interruption” Rules: Constant interruptions during work can be frustrating and counterproductive. For a proactive solution, I recommend establishing “interruption rules.” Our family held a meeting over dinner and all kids volunteered suggestions of what they thought should be an allowable interruption. We started with “if you are on fire or bleeding” and then went from there—an overflowing toilet made the list as we laughed about a time when a child interrupted a Bible study I was hosting downstairs, after she had been put to bed due to an overflowing toilet! If it’s just you and a spouse, maybe the rules don’t have to be so strict, but it still helps to communicate expectations in advance.
5) Last But Not Least— Don’t Forget Your Chair! Like it or not, in Virginia whatever work-from-home situation you have set up will likely be in place for at least another 60 days. Since this is not an outlier situation, it’s worth spending the energy to find the right chair that does not harm your posture. I’ve been known to have a laptop with me in bed in the evenings, knocking out those last few “to-dos.” However, this is not that moment—and if you try to limp along without proper back support, you might find yourself with new aches and pains, or worse, trips to the physical therapist come June 11. While this might need to involve a purchase, maybe it’s as simple as setting up a card table rather than working on the sofa.
I hope these simple tips provide a little help with keeping your sanity while balancing home and work life for these next several weeks!
