Hey Girl Hey!
Y’all still breathing and surviving?… Hope you all are staying safe during this crazy time! The unknown is the scariest part about this whole thing. My child has been out of school 3 weeks and it feels like a century… and we have a long way to go. I know some friends who are off school for six weeks already… that’s like, half of Summer.
Online learning started last week for us so that is another new thing right now. Now I am juggling being a teacher, working, mom life and trying to keep my house from burning down.
Having worked in both a corporate office and a home office, I can tell you that working from home can often be more challenging. On top of working, some of us are taking on new roles so it can be even more challenging.
But in all of the chaos, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted to share some tips that I have learned just over the last couple of weeks that have helped me survive and cope.
Create a dedicated work space. It’s going to be a while. You moving your laptop from area to area or working on your bed, isn’t going to cut it in the long run. Trust me. Even if you need to pack it up each night, try your best to find a dedicated space that’s just yours where you can focus, keep your to-do list out in front of you, your calendar or whatever else you need. Sharing some of my home office essentials that I use every single day below:
Home Office Essentials
Maintain a schedule. I have realized I have to get up before Ridge just to enjoy my coffee alone. And possibly get in a workout. This is so important for me because I know that that is the only time I have to myself the whole day or at least until my husband gets home. Since Ridge is online learning, I try to get him fed and set up to start at 8am. He does his work from his chromebook and sits right next to me while I tackle emails.
I did create a schedule/routine for us to try and stay on track each day. I found it online and just changed some things around according to works for our family. I am attaching it below for reference 🙂
Tackle e-mails first, then tasks. I know myself and I know that I can’t get anything done when I have unread email notifications, so I always head over to my email to get that squared away first. If I’m being honest, I check my email before I’m even out of bed, delete what I can (shopping emails, unnecessary marketing emails, spam email, etc) and leave the rest for my desktop.
Have a plan for managing distractions Distractions are different from interruptions in that distractions can come in all different forms and don’t need to be caused by another person. In fact, things like social media and e-mail can be significant distractions. Having a plan for how to deal with them helps to keep distractions from taking up too much of your time and leaving you unproductive.
If you work from home with kids, it is that much more difficult to manage distractions. Using earbuds to listen to classical music is a great way to minimize distractions by drowning out the background noise. Plus, the added benefit of classical music having been proven as a way to stimulate brain cells. I play this for Ridge while he is doing his schoolwork and have noticed his attention span increase tremendously. Once Ridge is finished with his school work, he will do an activity or go outside and play to keep him busy. I am sharing some great options I recently purchased and other ideas if you are needing any.
Kids Activities
Shop Workbooks:
Take a break and organize something in your home. Who doesn’t like to see a clean and organized home everyday. But lets be real, that is not always our top priority. I cant stand waking up to find unwashed dishes, kids toys in living room, pile of clothes on the chair an so on, you go crazy. I have to tackle of these things before bed but that leaves time the next day to organize something else in the house. You usually wait for the weekends to clean your home and put things in order. But if you devote some little time everyday, then you can make your home look tidy and systematic each day.
Organizational Ideas
Like I said, I am not an expert in working from home. In a time that feels very uncertain for many people, I am trying my best to share what I know or what might be potentially helpful for others. If you have worked from home and have a tip for success, please feel free to share it below in the comments. I hope this is a helpful resource for those that are trying to navigate a switch from their corporate office to a home setting and please let me know how I can be most helpful to you.
