Comments on: Remote/flexible work strategies — let me know yours!

By: ARC

ARC — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 18:28:43 +0000

I’ve been working remotely for most of the last 6 years and just gave a couple of talks at work about this topic now that everyone’s suddenly been thrown into remote work. I love the tip above about having a “secondary workspace”. We’ve been homeschooling one of our kids (age 10) for almost 18 months, and my husband also works remotely and it’s never been a problem getting things done. We realize now it’s because she is very self-directed and almost never interrupts us to ask a question (which is good and bad sometimes!). My 7yo is very much the opposite and now that school is out, she wants interaction so is coming by just to chat, or to ask a zillion questions, etc. A lot is because she’s an extrovert and used to being surrounded by a classroom full of kids all day. This is making “remote work” hugely stressful for me, and it’s clearly because of the context switching and interruptions. So I took the generous leave policy my company offered for COVID-19 and dropped back to half-time until my kids go back to school (August, fingers crossed!). I can trade off with my husband and get a decent 4 uninterrupted hours this way and am surprisingly productive. I’ve communicated to my team that my work hours are 10 to 3 but that I’d still check email and respond to urgent things outside of that time and it’s working really well. My other tip is to take a real lunch – get outside or just eat sitting down at the table. It’s a nice break.

By: Maria

Maria — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 15:24:36 +0000

One tip…mash up of your two recent posts… track your time! Some days working from home are exhausting and I feel like I was working “all day”, but I look at my time log and it was only 8 hours, not bad. Was just in different chunks or had multiple kid breaks. Other days I’ve felt super behind and when I look and see a day was only 6 hours, I realize partly why. Other days are ~10 hours, and then I remember to be grateful for the time I saved commuting and getting ready which would have made that a much longer day otherwise. Huge fan of time tracking (thanks to you!) but it’s been especially helpful this last month.

By: Kae @ Grateful Kae

Kae @ Grateful Kae — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 21:38:38 +0000

I’ve worked from home full time for 4 years as an RN Data Analyst now after 10+ years as an inpatient nurse. Majorly different schedule and job entirely! I am a huge, HUGE fan of the pomodoro technique. I tweak it a little from the standard 25 minute blocks and usually divide my focused work hours into 30 minute blocks. However I oftentimes will set a timer for 60 minutes now that I have developed better focus over the years (so I check off 2 30 minute blocks at once). Once I started using the timer method it was a total game changer for me. Once I set the timer, it’s like I have signed a pact with myself to do nothing but work until the timer is up. If the timer isn’t going, I feel a strange freedom to google things or just do non-work related tasks when I should not! It has worked extremely well for me, overall!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:24:36 +0000

In reply to Cathy McMann. @Cathy - I've learned to make myself daily task lists, and when the list is done, I can be done. Theoretically that could happen at 10 a.m., though it never does, because I also know roughly how many tasks fill a normal work day.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:22:43 +0000

In reply to Omdg. @omdg- definitely agree that sometimes you are just done. If you can't do any work, exercise or take a nap. Those are both more productive uses of time than staring at the screen and then winding up reading headlines or checking social media.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:19:52 +0000

In reply to Natalie.

@Natalie – this is smart to call people after meetings, just like you’d talk with each other in the hall on the way to the ladies room! You get a lot of the best intel this way…

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:19:18 +0000

In reply to Shruti. @Shruti- I love the idea of starting a day with a win. I've been trying to do this working from 6:30-7:30 or so. Then I feel less frantic when I lose 9-10:30 daily with the Zoom craziness.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:18:30 +0000

In reply to Katie Goudie. @Katie - I love the idea of creating your own coffee shop. I'm experimenting with working from places other than my desk for different types of work. In the past I sometimes went to a library for creative work.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 16:17:38 +0000

In reply to CBS.

@CBS – very much yes to this- planning out limited time is so important. As is recognizing the email and admin can be done in little chunks of time while you’re distracted. It’s all about matching the right work to the right time.

By: Marie

Marie — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 14:32:47 +0000

A few things that work for me:
– Have a primary and secondary workspace. My primary workspace is a desk in a spare bedroom, which is set up much like my office at work. My secondary workspace is a comfortable armchair that I can take conference calls from. My husband’s secondary workspace is an ironing board, so he can stand during conference calls!
– Have some really easy meals for lunch — my go-to these days is stir-fried frozen veggies over frozen brown rice. Takes 10 min to prepare, is warm and tasty, and relatively healthy.
– Go out for a walk during a break between conference calls that you would otherwise struggle to use productively. A half-hour break between calls rarely yields meaningful work for me, so why not get some exercise and sun then?