Working From Home is No Joke!
Working from home has always been a dream of mine. I even got my Bachelor's in Entrepreneurship because I was going to own my own business, be my own boss, control my own destiny...you get it.
Now, in this dream, I envisioned having a beautiful, clutter-free office space. It would be filled with inspirational quotes and pictures, have a cute little desktop, a printer, notebooks, fancy pens...can you tell I get excited about office supplies? Oh, and the window! It would have a tall, gorgeous window to let all the natural light in, and an over-sized chair next to it, where I could sit and do my research or organize my thoughts.
Can you see it? More importantly, can you hear it? The silence. It's a room. With a door. A room where no other humans, tiny or otherwise, would be allowed to enter, much less interrupt.
Beautiful, isn't it?
Well, now that my dream has come true and I actually am able to work from home, my reality is much less picturesque. Overnight, my entire routine had to change and now I'm struggle with how TF to be productive in an itty bitty apartment, where the only thing that could be considered a work space is our dining table, which I have to share with my husband, two kids, and a third one we picked up. (My cousin, whose mom is one of the essential people still working. Don't worry, I'm not picking up any strays!)
I'll be honest. The first few days I tried to wing it - embrace the chaos and all of that. But it doesn't work for me. On vacation, I need no plans. I love to wake up and just see where the day takes me. In order to be productive, though, I need structure.
So here's what I've been doing to try to give my days some kind of structure and do everything I need to do, without going completely insane:
1. I made a daily schedule - it's for me and for my kids. I actually sat down with my 8-year old, asked him what he'd like his learning day to look like, and worked it around my virtual office hours (yes, that's a thing now). We worked out everything from the time we're going to wake up, to our lunch and break times. It's not set in stone, things can be moved around, but we have been waking up and "logging off" at the same time everyday.
2. Keep a running to-do list - Anyone who works with me will tell you that I have notebooks, lists, and agendas for everything. Working from home has blurred the lines between house and home (who are we kidding, it's obliterated the line) so I have to keep house/family things and work things separate. I don't do any house things during "work" time, which brings me to my next point.
3. I don't work all day - My job requires me to be available during my regular work hours (which is easy because it's not like I'm making plans or anything) but I get my work done in chunks of time. An hour here, 30 minutes there. I need frequent breaks because I have the attention span of a 5-year old. If I'm in the middle of something and my kids want to hang out, I stop whatever it is and spend a little time with them. I need the breaks and they need the attention. Everybody wins.
4. Working around my nature - Self-awareness is key right now. I had to be serious about the kind of worker I am. There are Sprinters (people who like to work in short bursts) and there are marathoners (people who prefer to work for long stretches of time). Then there are morning and night people. I am 100% a sprinting night person. I force myself to be a morning person because of work and my kids, but I am far more productive when it's dark outside. So I do what I can during the day, but after my kids go to sleep, you're likely to find me folding clothes or writing, or a combination of the two (yes, it's possible).
5. Scheduled "Me" time - This is by far the most important thing I've done. If you take nothing else away from this post, take this and hold it close to your heart: You need to take care of yourself. Whether your thing is praying, journaling, exercising, or maybe you're like me and you need all 3 of those...you need to do that everyday. Now more than ever, we have to be the best, strongest version of ourselves so that we can take care of everyone who depends on us. The only way to do that is to make sure you are taken care of first.
Now, in this dream, I envisioned having a beautiful, clutter-free office space. It would be filled with inspirational quotes and pictures, have a cute little desktop, a printer, notebooks, fancy pens...can you tell I get excited about office supplies? Oh, and the window! It would have a tall, gorgeous window to let all the natural light in, and an over-sized chair next to it, where I could sit and do my research or organize my thoughts.
Can you see it? More importantly, can you hear it? The silence. It's a room. With a door. A room where no other humans, tiny or otherwise, would be allowed to enter, much less interrupt.
Beautiful, isn't it?
Well, now that my dream has come true and I actually am able to work from home, my reality is much less picturesque. Overnight, my entire routine had to change and now I'm struggle with how TF to be productive in an itty bitty apartment, where the only thing that could be considered a work space is our dining table, which I have to share with my husband, two kids, and a third one we picked up. (My cousin, whose mom is one of the essential people still working. Don't worry, I'm not picking up any strays!)
I'll be honest. The first few days I tried to wing it - embrace the chaos and all of that. But it doesn't work for me. On vacation, I need no plans. I love to wake up and just see where the day takes me. In order to be productive, though, I need structure.
So here's what I've been doing to try to give my days some kind of structure and do everything I need to do, without going completely insane:
1. I made a daily schedule - it's for me and for my kids. I actually sat down with my 8-year old, asked him what he'd like his learning day to look like, and worked it around my virtual office hours (yes, that's a thing now). We worked out everything from the time we're going to wake up, to our lunch and break times. It's not set in stone, things can be moved around, but we have been waking up and "logging off" at the same time everyday.
2. Keep a running to-do list - Anyone who works with me will tell you that I have notebooks, lists, and agendas for everything. Working from home has blurred the lines between house and home (who are we kidding, it's obliterated the line) so I have to keep house/family things and work things separate. I don't do any house things during "work" time, which brings me to my next point.
3. I don't work all day - My job requires me to be available during my regular work hours (which is easy because it's not like I'm making plans or anything) but I get my work done in chunks of time. An hour here, 30 minutes there. I need frequent breaks because I have the attention span of a 5-year old. If I'm in the middle of something and my kids want to hang out, I stop whatever it is and spend a little time with them. I need the breaks and they need the attention. Everybody wins.
4. Working around my nature - Self-awareness is key right now. I had to be serious about the kind of worker I am. There are Sprinters (people who like to work in short bursts) and there are marathoners (people who prefer to work for long stretches of time). Then there are morning and night people. I am 100% a sprinting night person. I force myself to be a morning person because of work and my kids, but I am far more productive when it's dark outside. So I do what I can during the day, but after my kids go to sleep, you're likely to find me folding clothes or writing, or a combination of the two (yes, it's possible).
5. Scheduled "Me" time - This is by far the most important thing I've done. If you take nothing else away from this post, take this and hold it close to your heart: You need to take care of yourself. Whether your thing is praying, journaling, exercising, or maybe you're like me and you need all 3 of those...you need to do that everyday. Now more than ever, we have to be the best, strongest version of ourselves so that we can take care of everyone who depends on us. The only way to do that is to make sure you are taken care of first.
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