I feel like I have been preparing for self isolation all my life. My freezer is always fully stocked, I always have a tin and/or a snack in the cupboard and I have on demand TV courtesy of my flatmate. I also have a business I can literally take anywhere, as long as I have an internet connection and my laptop I am good to go.
I always felt that working from home was a privilege, a result of the trust placed in me by an employer or a client, and with great privilege comes great responsibility. In order to prove the trust placed in me, I would go out to prove that I could be equally productive outside of the office and along the way I found that I rather enjoy the ability to work from home. I enjoy the chance to choose the tunes I listen to, I have always enjoyed my own space and I enjoy not having a commute of any description, but these are all bonus points really. As well as those factors I also find myself to be more productive as I can crack on uninterrupted, I can set my own schedule of how I would like to work through my task list, and I can have a proper break at lunchtime to really clear my head for the afternoon. I can also choose to stay on a little later, or start a little earlier if I have a lot to do as I have no commute to get through, no motorway queues to join or a train to catch.
In the current climate with Coronavirus being the headline of the day, lots of people are newly experiencing working from home. I know of companies doing trial runs where mass organisations are ensuring systems run smoothly if everyone is accessing them from outside, and I know of small businesses who may struggle if more people are working from home or self isolating, these being the independent coffee shops and cafes, or the florists down the road.
There are also some people I know who struggle with working from a home office and get easily distracted, and for those I have compiled a list of tips from one experienced freelance homeworker to a brand new work from homer, I hope you find them useful 🙂
- Treat your morning routine as if you are going into the office.
If this always involves a shower and a cuppa, have your shower and your cuppa and ensure you are ready to role at your usual starting time. I feel this gets me in the right mindset for the day ahead. - Have a specific office space where you can work from, be it the kitchen table, bedroom desk or personalised office space.
Have a comfortable chair and the right equipment, you are at work after all. I find I can then focus on my tasks when I’m in this designated space, and I can be in “work mode.” - Be easily contactable and ready to engage should you be called upon.
This builds that trust between employer/client and you. Ensure you are logged in to office systems such as Microsoft Teams or Slack, and reply to emails promptly. This proves you’re reliability and you’ll realise that the more diligent you are in the first couple of days from home, the more trust is placed in you further down the line. The emails and calls will become less regular and you are simply trusted to be delivering. - Have regular breaks as you would in the office.
Having a brew won’t disrupt your workflow. - Set an alarm.
If I have lots of different tasks to complete throughout the course of the day, I like to set an alarm of around 90 minutes. I find this really focuses my energy and productivity levels as I am channeling my energy in a positive way rather than spreading myself across multiple tasks. - Know when to stop.
Just because you have brought your work home, does not mean that you should be working every hour of everyday. Finish your day with a little signing off note with completed and outstanding tasks and all will be well 🙂
That said, if you do need any freelance support of the design kind over what is going to be an interesting couple of months please get in touch. I have plenty of experience in working from home and a track record of delivering. Some of my long standing clients I have never met in real life and not even based in the UK. It can be quite strange building working relationships with people I will never meet, but as we get more into the swing of remote working, the more this will be the case. Luckily for me I am ahead of the curve on that one!
Nice read