WORKING FROM HOME IS AWESOME
YOU MIGHT HAVE TO DO IT FOR A WHILE, SO HERE ARE SOME TIPS ON HOW TO ENJOY IT.
ILOVE WORKING from home.
I learned this week that this is apparently a controversial stance. The unfolding coronavirus crisis is forcing many to work from home in an effort to stop the spread. Not everyone greeted the news with a cheer. That’s how I found out there are people who claim to enjoy putting on work clothes and packing a sad desk lunch and battling traffic. Not me.
I’ve had jobs where I worked from home full time, and jobs — like the one I have now — where I work from home every once in a while. I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty good at it.
I trust you know the basics. So here are some tips to work from home more efficiently, stay connected with your colleagues, and maybe even enjoy yourself a little bit.
1. Sleep later.
How long is your commute? And how long is your pre-office morning routine — selecting an outfit, doing your hair, figuring out what you’ll eat that day and deciding whether to pack a gym bag? Add up that time, and then set your morning alarm back by that amount of time. Getting those critical Zzzs can help keep you from getting sick. Sleep in later — for your health.
Here’s what you need to do before you start working from home: Be conscious and in front of a computer. That’s it. I am firmly on team “only get dressed if you want to.” I get up, start the coffeemaker, wash my face, brush my hair, put on a different T-shirt than the one I slept in, make a bowl of cereal and a cup of the aforementioned coffee and take it to my desk. And so my workday begins.
2. Set up your desk.
Whatever space you’re going to be working from, clean it. Normally, my desk at home has a bunch of bills I need to file, a few bottles of nail polish, a couple of books, some mail and old newspapers. If you’re like me, mend your wicked ways. Make your home desk (or kitchen table) feel like your work desk. Have everything there that you’d have at work: a phone charger, a box of tissues, a water bottle, a mug, pens and paper.
Set up your laptop in a way that your neck won’t ache by the end of the workday. Consider putting your laptop on a stack of books and use an external keyboard and mouse so that you’re staring straight at your screen, not down at it.
Eat lunch away from your desk. At the end of your workday, get up and do something else for a while to tell your brain “working time” is over. Remember to stretch.
3. Be ready for prime time.
Teleconferencing and video calls are not the future. They are the present. Save your office’s dial-in number to your phone’s favorites so you’re ready to jump on a call at a moment’s notice.
I briefly worked as a producer. A big part of my job was to wrangle guests and teach them how to be semipresentable on camera. Here’s what you need to do:
Figure out where you’re going to sit when you’re on video calls and do a test run. Make sure whatever is in view is presentable. I don’t care how you live, but I don’t want to have to bear witness to your shame.
If you’re using a laptop camera, put it on a stack of books so you’re looking straight into the camera This is mostly to avoid the dreaded “Dear God, does my chin really look like that?” double take once you’re in the meeting.
Check the lighting. The light source should come from behind your computer screen. If you have a desk lamp with a flexible arm, position that right behind your monitor with the light pointed directly at your face.
Wear lipstick. Our brains use visual input to decipher what someone is saying. That’s why it’s so disconcerting when the lip sync on your TV is off. Differentiating your lips from the rest of your face will help the people get what you’re saying. (If you don’t wear lipstick, even a swipe of lip balm will help.)
Framing-wise, you want the camera to see from your chest to a few inches above the top of your head. Filling the entire screen with a close-up of your face is bad. So is sitting too far away.
4. Make your home a more pleasant place to be.
Take the opportunity of your extended presence at home to make it nice. If you haven’t already, stock up on staples.. Stay on top of keeping the kitchen clean so you aren’t walking past a pile of dirty dishes every time you refill your coffee. And there’s never been a better time to wipe down your bathroom counters and wash your hand towels and bath mat.
5. Maintain your connections and your mental health.
Staying away from the office means missing out on casual day-to-day conversation with your colleagues. Make it a point to spend more of your free time reaching out to people via text and on social media. And video calls aren’t just for coworkers: Set up a Skype or FaceTime call with friends or relatives. You can also host a virtual game night with things like Jackbox.
There’s a lot of coronavirus news out there. Try not to worry too much about it. Easier said than done, but worth trying.
Let me leave you with this, the single most important advice I can possibly impart to you:
Mute yourself on conference calls.