At Meet Me In The Cloud, we’ve been an entirely remote company for 10 years, and so we know all the ways to make working from home productive, enjoyable, and collaborative. And during these challenging times, it helps to create a positive connection between your traditional work experience and your new work-from-home life.
So here are our 8 Quick Tips and Tricks from those who live the remote life year-round:
Have a schedule
1. Establish a start time and a finish time.
Set those boundaries with your boss and your family. You don’t have to work 24/7 simply because your office is now in your living room.
2. Kids at home? Anticipate a few disruptions!
It’s okay, everyone else has kids at home too. And when you think about those disruptions, it’s not really that different from when Donna comes by your office every morning and wants to tell you about her online internet date!
3. Plan Breaks.
You are not 100% your job – make sure you take a break for meals, for exercise, for sanity. Especially if you now have kids at home that are also needing to do schoolwork – make sure you give yourself a few breaks to check in on them and make sure they are progressing.
4. Don’t Interrupt!
There will be times during the day when you need to video or phone conference calls and you will not want to be interrupted. Be very clear about the cues that you will use to indicate to your family when those times are: a shut door, headset is on, a red colored piece of paper at the entrance of your workspace, etc.
Prepare for the Day
5. Get Yourself Ready.
It’s easy to just roll out of bed and make the 30 second “commute” to your new work-station, but it doesn’t give you the same fresh start to the day that you usually experience. Take a shower, put on your business casual clothes, and do your hair. You’ll look the part and you’ll feel the part.
6. Eat Breakfast – It’s The Most Important Meal Of The Day!
Before your scheduled day starts, take a bit of time to have a calm cup of coffee and eat a bagel to get yourself completely ready. This way you won’t find yourself halfway through the morning starving and taking it out on everyone else in that virtual meeting!
7. Prep Your Workspace.
Clean up the area of any extra stuff from the day before, make sure you have the tools you need to get your work done (phone, chargers, pen, paper, etc.), and check to make sure your internet is working.
Take Care Of Yourself
8. Don’t Forget To Take Time for Self-Care!
Probably the most important tip! Working from home can start to have a “hermit” feel to it, so take some time during the day to take a break and experience life! Take a walk (keep that six feet distance though!), do some yoga, read a magazine on the porch, play a ball game with your kids. Do something to give yourself balance!
Please feel free to reach out to us and we can help you and your team find a perfect balance between traditional and work from home experiences!
