You’ve likely started the work from home life if your job allows you to do so, and if you’re reading this during working hours. It’s okay. We all browse the web – don’t be ashamed! If you have working from home and want to figure out how to not kill yourself or go insane on the process, here are 7 ways to shift your mindset about working from home.
1.Be Thankful That You Still Have A Job
It’s too easy to take what we have for granted. Sounds corny, but true. Often times, we don’t know what we have, till we lose it. Hopefully, those estimated 3.3 million Americans who lost their jobs are able to file for unemployment and look for a new job ASAP. Tell yourself that you’re still lucky and grateful that you still have a job. Reduce the slacking and make sure you’re liked and well positioned in the firm.
2. No More Commuting!
Working from home means that your commute time is literally reduced to zero! It’s as simple as waking up, getting out of bed, starting up your computer, logging in, and getting to work. We might want to add some sanitary things like brushing your teeth, but you get what we mean! You literally save anywhere from 10 min ~ 2+ hours on your day because you don’t have to drive, take the bus, subway, etc.
3. Sneak In Some Chores!
Sneak in some chores while you’re at work! Need to sit in on a conference call that you don’t really need to be a part of? Take your laptop to your dining table, start swifting the floors for starters! Maybe take a pile of clean laundry next to you and start folding it. Just because you’re sitting in on a call and you hands are free doesn’t mean you just have to sit there!
You’re very likely going to have a lot of downtime as you’re going to be set up with a VPN to access your email, company portal, etc. You’re probably going to be waiting awhile for certain Excel documents or Outlook to open up.
4. Meal Prep
Try to get some grocery shopping done. Or, if you were smart, you would already have a bunch of frozen groceries in bulk that you did early on during regarding the COVID-19 madness. As of the beginning of April, we’re still seeing measures taken at grocery stores and starting to see reduced supply in produce. Get what you can if you haven’t. However, if you’re wondering what to do with all the free time that you have, learn how to cook!
Pro Tip? Your more “typical” grocery stores are a mess. Assume they’re gonna be a mess during any pandemic. These grocery stores include Ralphs, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. If you’re living in a somewhat developed area, we recommend going to Sprouts or Whole Foods. Sure, a bit more expensive, but you’re going to see an overall increase in the quality of product, shopping experience, and even people! We’ve noticed that as the overall cost for goods increase for let’s say, basic produce, the quality of people go up as well, as they’re able to afford it. Don’t get us started on Walmart. There goes that saying where people would rather go to Target and pay a bit more rather than go to Walmart.
5. Do Your Daily Grooming!
Even those daily grooming activities like showering, shaving, brushing your teeth don’t really seem like that big of a deal, getting these in during your working day frees about 30 minutes of your time. 30 minutes doesn’t sound like much, but it is. Its enough time to read some pages of a book, take care of an important phone call regarding your finances, watch some TV, talk to your family or kids, so on and so forth.
Time is the greatest gift we can possibly have! We all need to understand that our time is limited. Sorry, we don’t mean to bring the mood, down, but times like this really put things into perspective. Do what’s important to you!
6. Take Care Of Some Important Phone Calls
We brushed up on this in the previous section, but this one deserves a section of its own. Adulting sucks. Insurance claims, travel notifications, setting up your credit card, calling your financial advisors regarding your retirement accounts. Note, the influx of people calling due to market volatility is insane – if you’re going insane, but think no one else is around you, think again, people are going crazy! Although its just a phone call, it can be mentally draining to get these done, and the effort it takes to find some time and step out to even take the call is a challenge itself. The even crappier portion of this? All of your calls towards these companies are going to be through an automated system at first. We know that you want to dial the number, have a representative pick up the phone, and get your call out of the way, but it isn’t like this anymore. Companies are trying to squeeze profits and automate wherever possible.
7. Clean Up Anything Work Related
This can be anything – either physical or electronic. Physical being making sure that your desk and surrounding workstation is clean. You don’t have unnecessary clutter on your desk, everything is organized, and that everything is dust free.
Electronically speaking, take some of the downtime to even clean up your Outlook or your network drives. Sort your files in a proper matter if you don’t already do so! You’ll really find that this will organize your mind in an efficient matter, and the next time you need to recall something quickly whether your boss wants some information or you’re in a meeting and no one can recall where that specific item came from – this will impress your coworkers and even management.