Remote working used to be something that only a select few people did, and the rest of the world felt a little jealous of them. After all, who wouldn’t love to be able to work from their comfy sofa all day long, wearing lounge clothes and not having to endure the morning and evening commutes? But as the COVID19 outbreak spreads across the world, many of us have begun to realize that actually, working remotely isn’t the glorious experience that the stock photos and MLM recruiters would have us believe. Working from home can be super difficult! It requires a huge amount of self-discipline and self-motivation. Who’d have thought that doing the dishes would be so appealing when you’ve got a work project to do? If you’ve been suddenly plunged into remote working, here are some common mistakes to avoid.
Letting Yourself Go
Working from home means that you get to sit in your home all day and nobody needs to see you unless it’s on a scheduled Zoom call that you’re ready for. Suddenly, you don’t have to wake up an hour before you have to leave to get your office clothes on and make sure that you look presentable. If you don’t brush your hair, nobody will know. However, while there’s nothing wrong with indulging in the opportunity to wear leggings and forego the makeup while you have it, you’ll feel better if you put a bit of an effort into getting ready. Instead of giving in to the temptation to stay in bed right until the last minute and flip open your laptop in your pajamas, spend a bit of time having a shower and changing into some clean clothes before you get started for the day.
Sleeping Too Late
When you suddenly don’t have to wake up to get ready and leave in time to get to work for 9 AM, you might want to take full advantage of the luxury of waking up at 8:50 AM and end up going to bed later than usual at night. But while there’s nothing wrong with allowing yourself a later wake-up time than usual while you’ve got the chance, it’s a good idea to try and stick to your usual sleep-wake schedule as much as you can. Deviating too far from it will only mean that once you’re back in work, it’ll be harder to get back into your usual routine. If you’re struggling to sleep at night with everything going on, why not treat yourself to a new mattress from an excellent Memorial Day mattress sale?
Not Dealing with Distractions
You’ve probably already figured out that the laundry or the dishes can suddenly be the most distracting thing in the world when you’ve got a spreadsheet to make or a pile of client emails to respond to. And when you’re outside of the work environment and at home, it’s easy to start noticing a hundred little things around your house that you suddenly need to work on right now. To combat this issue, have a designated workspace in your home where you can. If you don’t have a spare room, carve out a corner of your bedroom or kitchen where you can set up a desk and office space. And, make sure any housework tasks are done the night before, so they don’t end up distracting you from your workday.
With thousands of workers unable to go into the office thanks to COVID19, remote working has become the new normal – and many of us are realizing that it’s not as great as we once thought. Keep the above tips in mind and keep a video chat going with your coworkers, so that you don’t miss out on the social aspect of work either!
