A year of working from home…
My first job out of college was a hybrid job; I worked 2–3 days in the office and the rest of the week from my desk at home. It was an adjustment—but still a luxury—especially as someone who was transitioning from being a student to a self-sustaining adult.
When I left that job I wanted to find a similar work setup at my new job. I wanted the freedom to work individually in my own space, control my surroundings more, and be comfortable. Working from home is all of those things, for sure, but it’s also a double-edged sword that can leave you feeling more drained and less productive.
I eventually started a new job mid-pandemic that has allowed me to work from home for over a year and a half and counting. And while the pros outweigh the cons, there are considerations to take that you may not realize or that you may dismiss and then regret down the road.
Creating a work-from-home routine has been helpful, but it doesn’t always stick. Without early meetings or on-camera calls I find myself working in sweatpants and messy hair all day every day. Some days I log in and then realize I haven’t eaten hours later. I’m a work zombie.
I’ll also admit, the dark side of working from home is the pressure to be working constantly. I don’t want to be available all the time, especially as someone who works multiple jobs with blurred timelines. And yet, with my laptop only a few feet from the kitchen and the couch, it’s hard to ignore each email beep or work chat ding, even when I’m relaxing.
A few tricks help me stay focused, even with distractions like laundry, outside construction, snacks, my personal email, and so on.
Wear headphones—Though I live alone and love to blast music every so often, wearing headphones helps me feel plugged in and connected to what I’m doing. Whether I’m listening to a podcast or playlist or nothing at all, engaging my hearing helps me feel rooted while I’m at my desk.
Swapping the orientation of my laptop and monitor—I sit practically all day, so my back begins to hunch over and my neck begins to ache from looking down at my laptop or to the right at my larger monitor. After my first few months working like this, I realized I needed to reorient the things on my desk to find center (literally find the center of my posture). Now, every month I switch my laptop and monitor; swapping them from left to right. I’ve noticed my posture is better, my brain is more involved, and changing up my space is refreshing.
Productive white noise—Some of the tasks I do can be done listening to music or a movie in the background, but others require more focus, especially investigative reviews and writing articles. When I need to be in that mindset, I opt for white noise and lyricless playlists that help the time pass but don’t distract me. A few of my favorites are:
Put my phone in another room—I’m easily distracted and having my phone nearby exacerbates it. I lose time scrolling Instagram, checking the weather, playing the NYT Spelling Bee, and who knows what. I made a boundary, and I don’t always stick to it, but I try: once I log in and use my phone to authenticate my VPN, I put my phone out of reach. I can still see texts on my laptop and have plenty of other distractions, but eliminating my phone as one has really helped me focus longer.
Get up and move—Duh! My apartment doesn’t have stairs and I only walk a few hundred steps a day between my closet, kitchen, and desk. It’s imperative for me to get up and move around periodically, and ideally take a longer walk to get fresh air. Sometimes this movement is yoga or stretching, and sometimes it’s just going to a class I teach at Heartfelt, but I’ve been trying to move around more and sit less as I’ve settled into my WFH routine. Maybe a standing desk is next?