Lockdowns are officially in place, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the globe. Working from home is now the new normal. With so many things in one's plate, from your spouse, children, work, emails, physical mail, and household to run, it can be quite a challenge to be productive during this time. All the time you would normally waste in traffic and you’re now home waking up without a plan and nowhere to escape.
We are here to tell you with the right effort, you can stay productive while taking care of yourself and your loved ones.
To a certain degree, everyone is in the same boat, but your situation is likely unfolding uniquely. The key is to have compassion, understanding, and empathy for one yourself and everyone involved; and if you are single, self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges, but along with these challenges lies the opportunity for new perspectives to emerge.
Going about your daily life in a new way can lead to positive shifts and growth. This extraordinary rare situation allows you to rethink pretty much every area of your life. We are here to share some tips on how you can stay at the top of your professional game during these unprecedented times.
1. Maintain a Morning Routine
Start off your day the same way you would if you were leaving the house to go to a regular day job on those days without this COVID 19 virus. You might not have to leave the house to go to your office but you still have to go to work and you wouldn't go to work in your pajamas would you?
Get yourself into a going-to-work mindset every morning. For example, wake up on time, meditate, pray and fix your bed. To make sure you feel fresh and ready for the day it is better to shower, get dressed anyways. Why not look fly at home? Most importantly don’t forget breakfast! The best start to the day is with a balanced meal.
Sticking to a routine helps with keeping focus. Being disciplined about your schedule will help you avoid getting distracted by other stuff that you have to do or get done at home during the workday.
We know it’s extremely easy to get distracted! Keep yourself on track and do whatever you have to manage your time well.
2. Schedule Out Your Day (Priorities)
Along with maintaining a morning routine, making a schedule for your day will help you stay on track. Working from home allows you to have flexible hours but it does not imply that you can work whenever you want. Creating a schedule will help you still maintain flexibility but allow you to remain efferent at your job. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee your boss or clients should know it is business as usual. Once your schedule is ready to follow it, conscientiously.
Create a to-do list of tasks that you want to finish that day. Order the list according to the priority of tasks and start clearing tasks having the highest priority. Also, make sure to leave some empty slots in your to-do list to handle unexpected tasks that need immediate attention.
For example:
Answers Emails: 9am - 10am
Client Work: 10am-1pm
Lunch: 1pm-2pm
Meetings/Personal Projects 2pm-5pm
Note: Always allowing room for rearrangement wherever possible
It is very easy to get yourself captivated on the daily news reports or the newest episode of This Is Us or Law & Order SVU, you won't realize how much time has gone by binge-watching your favorite show so add it to your schedule. The best solution is to make sure to turn off your TV and turn on the surround sound with some soft music and get to work.
How could we forget the Devil in the Red Dress, Social Media! As almost all work at home people have to spend most of their time in front of a computer, it becomes nearly impossible to control yourself from checking emails to scrolling through Facebook and Instagram's latest memes. Eventually, find yourself wasting a lot of the time in non-productive activities, but they do say laugher is good for the soul. However, an ideal solution is it is to limit your internet usage while working, maybe using some free tools which can block internet access for you during your working hours.
3. Maintain a Positive Attitude
Now, this should be number 1 but it is vital to keep a positive mental attitude. In order to find success in any phase of life, your attitude is key. Gratitude is the best way to stay positive during this time. Be thankful for the things you do have and watch more things will come. So while some people try to get by doing as little work as possible, others possess a dedication that leads them to give it their best every day.
Enjoy some of the perks of working from home such as not wasting time commuting, spending breaks with your loved ones and some much-needed R and R. These may not be the happiest of times but not all is bad and we can surely find some joy in the midst of it all. Having a positive attitude will help keep you strong and overcome this crisis.
4. Learn, Learn, Learn! Explore New Hobbies
Let’s face it, you’re stuck at home, but I guarantee about a month ago you were probably saying if you had more time you would… So what better time than the present? Now you’re probably not going to become an expert on how to run a mass spectrometer, but you could beef up your computer programming skills, start that business you’ve always been talking about, learn the guitar, how to sew, start painting, writing that movie script, or read a book about a new topic or circle back to that online course that you never finished.
Remember that this is a stressful time for everyone. We are all experiencing “La Vida (Life) Quarantine”. We are all doing our best. It’s our job to support each other so extend some grace to yourself, your family members, friends and co-workers as we all adjust to a situation that just a few weeks ago seemed unfathomable. We are all in this together, so stay positive we will come out of this stronger and better.
Written By Skánia Yasmina, CEO | THE VOEU AGENCY
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