So, You’re Working From Home…

Well.

Um.

It has been a bit of a time.

If you’re anything like me, A.) I’m sorry, and B.) you probably haven’t gone outside all too much since, y’know, March. I hope you and yours are being safe, but I also understand that for a lot of you, you’re now looking down the barrel at the prospect of working from home. While I have no doubt that this feels like a dream come true for a number of you, I recognize that this is going to be a difficult transition for others. As somebody who spent the past six years working from home before moving 3,000 miles to, as it turns out, work from home, I’ve already wrestled with these difficulties.

So I’m here to help! Kinda.

Before moving to Montreal, Quebec in July 2019, I had spent the previous six years working mostly from home. I had to wrestle with establishing effective routines, setting up a workspace that didn’t encroach on every inch of my living space, and the social adjustments that come with no longer working in a shared space. I understand better than many just how difficult that transition can be.

But, I assure you: it can be done. It’s my hope that I can offer you a few words of advice, and perhaps a bit of encouragement, to ease some of the anxieties that those of you who are struggling to make the transition into the WFH life may be feeling.

Now, let’s begin with the most important and obvious thing about our current situation…

NOTHING About This is Normal

You’re not actually working from home! Yes, while you are working from your home, in actuality you are “working in confinement during a global health crisis that has shut down entire countries for weeks.” You are very likely not operating with a clear and focused mind.

This. Is. Okay.

It is okay to not be okay right now, What we are experiencing is not normal, and you should not be made to feel embarrassed or ashamed for acknowledging that. If you need help, either with work or family or your general mental health, you should not be afraid to ask. At the same time, if all you do is sit around and lament about how terrible things are in this moment in history, your home will very quickly begin to feel like a prison and you will slowly lose your hold on your sanity.

Acknowledge your limits, whether emotional or physical or psychological, and pace yourself in accordance with those limits. One way you can help yourself with this is to…

Establish Structure

I know, I know. This sounds like a “well, duh” sort of thing but you would be surprised by how many people think they will just open their laptop, sit down on the couch, and be able to focus. And for some most many of you, that just isn’t going to be true.

When you work outside of the home, you kinda have a semi-structured routine pre-built into your day. You wake up, get dressed (presumably), grab breakfast or a coffee, and head out the door. But now that you’re working from home and very probably aren’t allowed to head out the door right now, that routine has been disrupted. That’s okay. This is not the death of routine; it only means you need to replace the old with the new.

I, personally, find that maintaining a morning routine is paramount to my being able to exist. It allows me to shift into the mindset that I need to be in so that I can carry out the day’s tasks.

For Example: I generally wake up at around five o’clock in the morning. I do this six days out of the week and on each of those six mornings, I almost immediately shuffle into my office for one of my workouts – which, these days, consists of either DDP Yoga or resistance band training. After I finish the workout, roughly 45-60 minutes, I drag myself upstairs, cook breakfast, put on a pot of coffee, and shower while the coffee is brewing. By the time I’m out of the cleaned and dressed, my coffee is ready and I’m mentally prepared to attack the day.

Now, I reckon that some of you recoiled in abject horror at the thought of waking up at 5:00am. You can relax. I’m not encouraging you to do what I do (in fact, more often than not I’d advise against it). I lay out my routine here to highlight how so many people who I see struggling with their newfound working environment are doing so because they’re meandering about all day without any real plan of attack. If you find yourself in this position, odds are it’s because you don’t have a plan – or worse, you’re trying to shoehorn your old routine into your new reality. If that’s the case, I’d ask you to take a step back, look at your situation with your work and your home, and develop a routine that best suits your habits and tendencies within your new working environment.

Will it be easy? Absolutely not! Not at first, anyways. But with persistence, you’ll settle into your new flow in short order.

Establish Professional Boundaries

While some people are having a hard time finding the will to begin, others seem to not know when to stop. When you live where you work, it can become quite easy to fall into the trap of burning the midnight oil in an effort to make progress on your current task. This is all well and good in short bursts, but without having a clearly defined boundary between what is work and what is the rest of your life, you will quickly find yourself staring down the barrel of burnout, which will make you miserable in both work and life. It is absolutely vital to avoid falling into this trap, and that’s why it is so important that you establish your professional boundaries ahead of time.

For one, decide when your day begins and, more importantly, decide when your day ends. Once you have that window defined, either by you or by your employer, you stick to that schedule with an unflinching rigidity that would frustrate those who would take advantage of you.

Another step you can take is to separate your workspace from the rest of your home.

Designate a Workspace

One thing that I absolutely hated about living in Los Angeles was that, because space comes at a premium in LA, my office and my bedroom were one and the same. This meant that between the time I was sleeping, the time I was working, and the time I was socializing with friends (usually on Overwatch), I was spending upwards of 18-20 hours per day in one room

That can fuck with your head if you’re not careful!

This is why I am so loud about establishing a barrier between where you work and where you live. I know that this isn’t always possible – either because of physical space or because you use your computer as your primary media consumption device, whether it be games or movies or YouTube. In those situations, it isn’t about separating space – but separating time, coming up with creative solutions to separate your work time from your non-work time. One thing that I wound up doing was using a desk lamp to indicate when I was “on the clock.” If the lamp was on, I was working, and at the end of the day the physical act of turning the lamp off was my way of signaling to my brain “hey, home, we’re done.”

I found this method to be so effective that I still use the lamp to this day, despite now having a dedicated room for work.

Another reason to establish a “home office,” whether an independent room or a corner in your living room or bedroom? Taxes. In many countries, you can write off a number of things on your yearly income taxes if you have a designated “home office,” allowing you to write off a percentage of your utilities (electric, water, internet) or even portions of your rent/mortgage. This is largely determined by where you live, of course, but if were you live allows you to do this then you are literally throwing money away by not taking advantage of it.

Put Some Damn Clothes On

Seriously. It helps. I’m not trying to be a prude here. It actually helps.

Putting some damn clothes on not only helps to maintain a semblance of normalcy, but the act of putting on clothes – of taking care of yourself and putting a little thought into your appearance – can actually help keep you from slipping into a passive melancholy that, itself, can lead to heavy anguish. Sure, it may feel like you’re only making yourself presentable for a few floating heads on the other side of your webcam, but you know what? You’re going to be seeing you a whole hell of a lot more than they are and you deserve to look and feel good about yourself.

And wear some shoes, while you’re at it! My grandfather always used to say that it’s harder to take a nap when you have your shoes on, and you know what? He was right.

They don’t have to be dress shoes or work boots, but I would recommend that you slip something on your feet: a pair of slippers or old, comfortable sneakers. I typically wear a pair of leather deck shoes during my working hours.

I reckon it sounds silly at face value, but it really does help.

Be Social, and Be Sociable

No, I’m not being a wiseass. Yes, I am aware that it is hard to be social when we can barely leave our homes.

While we can’t go back to ballgames or out to the clubs again just yet, it’s still important that you maintain some level of non-work social contact with your friends and loved ones. This is what social networks like Facebook and Twitter are meant for, but let’s be honest with ourselves: those are miserable experiences. Thankfully there are other platforms out there that allow for socializing and community building without relying on soul-sucking social media.

For instance, Kast is a great tool if you’re wanting to organize a watch party for a virtual movie night. If you want to bring some folks together, have a little too much wine, and “experience” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s unnecessary sequel to Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, Kast allows you to do that.

If for some inexplicable reason you aren’t into movies, you can also host virtual game nights by streaming over Discord or Zoom. This is an easy way to bring people together to play party games like Jackboot Party Pack, or throw together a board game night with Tabletop Simulator, or even just plan a pen & paper RPG campaign.

And, of course, there’s always video games.

None of these solutions replace the physical acts of meeting people at a pub, or breaking bread with old friends around the table while the Olive Garden wait staff looks on in abject horror. But in these times, when any kind of community is vital to our sanity, we need to find those connections wherever we can.

Go Outside

Okay, hear me out. While it’s true that we can’t really go much of anywhere right now, we can still step outside. Even during the best of times, it’s easy to feel trapped in your home when you’re living the WFH life. This is why it’s so vitally important to embrace as much of “the outdoors” as you can during the day. While it’s always better to step outside and breathe in some clean air, either by going on your balcony/porch or stepping out onto your yard, even something a simple as opening your blinds and letting in as much natural light as you can, it’s important to find the means and the time to take in a bit of fresh air and direct sunlight.

Hell, depending on the laws and restrictions in your area, you may even be able to go for a walk around the neighborhood. I love walks. I’ve always loved walks. I do my best thinking while on walks, and in a time where we’re limited in how we care for ourselves, I find that walks have replaced my gym time. Just be sure to throw on a mask and keep your distance from others while you’re out there.

Finally, there is one more thing that I need you to do…

Remember That We Will Persevere

The single most important think to keep in mind during these times, above all else, is that “this too shall pass.” What is happening in the world is a temporary affliction, and while it is impossible to say what the “new normal” will ultimately be, know that there WILL be a tomorrow. I intend to see that tomorrow, and it is my hope that you’ll see it, too. After all, humanity has been stricken with disease and death before, and though the cost is always terrible, always too high, humanity has always risen above.

We will do so again.

But in the meantime, as we weather this viral storm, I ask that you try to look after yourself and your loved ones. That way, when you come out the other side – and you will come out the other side – you will be ready to help shape the world into a slightly better place.

As a wise man often said: I’m pullin’ for ya. We’re all in this together.