Getting productive at home

You know how it is. You are getting a quarter of the work done while working at home compared to what you used to do at work.  Zoom sessions are the new meeting time waster.  Just cos’ you can doesn't mean you should. Too many distractions. The kids, the dog, the cat, Facebook or Gmail on your home PC, the fridge. The garden. The neighbour. Your parents and the toilet that needs a clean. All there to tempt you.

At your physical work place most distractions were gone.  It was a sterile working environment - just like pilots have (had...) in the cockpit of a plane. - They have to concentrate to get the plane to its destination safely.  How are you going to fly your home desk and get through this new environment without crashing out, running out of fuel or being hijacked by the home terrorists?

Retraining your brain of course.  And using a few clever tricks.  Many come from Catherine Deveny’s book “Use your words”.  Go buy it from your local book store- they need your support right now.

The tips. Set yourself up for success. You know. Your chair, your desk space, headphones etc. Get it sorted from an OH&S perspective. Really people are working from some pretty interesting locations right now so as long as you are safe and getting your work done, who cares.

Now that your physical space is good, let's look at your mental space - yep your head and the tricks it’s gonna play on you.

First, when you finish work each day you are going to leave your desk clean, with a Can Do list for the next day and shut down all work apps.  You use your computer after work hours?  Use a different browser to the one you use at work or create a different login for work and for home.

Now tell your housemates, kids or partner how you are going to work from home and ask for their help.  Your plan could look something like this - you are going to get up at 6am and do 1.5 hours work until 7:30 when you will wake the rest of the house up, have brekky, exercise -run, ride, walk the dog - have you tried Michael Mosley's HIIT - High Intensity Intermittent Training?  Go for a 20 min walk and after 5 mins run for 20 seconds (now I mean as hard as you can - you get to catch your breath in the 5 min walk) walk for 5 mins and repeat.  The easiest get fit plan with no body stress). Now get dressed for work. Then at 8:30 to 10:30 it's work.  Morning tea 30 mins. 11am to 1pm then lunch 1 hour. 2 ‘till 4:30pm work.  Then its drinks on the nature strip to sing to the neighbours Italian Style until 5:30 - did I get 8 hours of work in?  Write up your plan and put it on the wall/door/fridge. Make it clear.

Now you are going to dress for work.  Uggies and PJ’s don’t send your brain the work message.  It may be that you put on a little makeup, shave or your normal work shoes and attire, do your hair. Not all but something that builds a daily rhythm and gets you in the work mindset.  Wearing your work shirt may be enough for your kids to know that mummy or daddy is at work.

Now the nitty gritty. Doing stuff. Dev suggests a stack of ways to stay focused, productive and get shit done.  The best way to make these work is to try them.  For 10 days - that's 2 working weeks. 

Me, I like tricking my brain with rewards. Little ones.  Get up and don’t get dressed until I have done a solid hour and a half of work.. Reward yourself with a toilet break at 30 mins, glass of water after 60 mins, put the jug on at 75 mins and make the tea at 90 mins.  At 9:30 it’s herbal tea - you don’t need coffee yet - keep your powder dry and the big guns for later.

10:30 its coffee time - it’s social and a light snack - keep away from the sugars and carbs - you’ll just want to keep at them all day if you start now.  Think whole grains, nuts, dried fruit or whole fruit, yes a wholemeal muffin, a protein ball.  Now milk coffee is fine in the morning - ditch the sugar though.  At 12 a glass of water - don’t have it at your desk to sip on - get up and get it from the kitchen. 12:30 another herbal tea or water with a slice of lemon - have I mentioned that having a drink with flavour but no calories is ace as it quenches our hunger. 

Aaaarh Lunch - keep it light - low carb, high protein, good fats and lots of veg and some fruit/nuts.  Now the afternoon stretch - this is the toughie, do the toilet break at 2:30 and make yourself a black coffee or tea (no sugar) at 3 - and take it to your desk and make it last until 4. It gives you something to do and slowly releases that caffeine into your system and gives you focus.  Plus, black coffee tastes so much better as it cools down. Some fruit and cheese a 4 will get you through to the finish and ensure you have something in your stomach for #naturestrip drinks.

Those other tips Dev mentions - The Dev’s way - that’s secret - go read her book.  You have already declared your goals by writing a can do list, and you have unplugged from your normal life and you’ve got out of bed early.  Now try to put things on your can do list that are a bit open ended like start the planning for the online training - I bet you will finish it but if you say complete planning for online training it’l be harder to start. Now also try a bit of Hate Writing.  It’s more getting the crappy things done early in the day - before 10:30.  The rest of the day will go fine.

I’ve been breaking up the day into 30 min lots - there’s a reason for that - it’s called the Pomodoro technique - yes it’s named after the tomato shaped timer that the inventor used who created the technique.  You think of a task that you need to do, write it down, set the timer for 25 minutes and work at that task.  If anything else comes to mind, write it down then move back to your task.  When the timer goes off, reward yourself and set the timer again for the next task.

Now is the time to also get the carrot and stick methods out - but don’t use food as the reward - the fridge and pantry are too close.  Me, I like garden teas - we have lemongrass growing, and lemon verbena and 3 different mints and I really like lemon, ginger and honey.  Oh and hibiscus too.  These are my carrots.  I get something done I have a herbal tea.  The sticks Dev suggested, wearing a shower cap until you have completed something.  I bet you won’t go out of your home office with that on your head - just remember to take it off for the all company Zoom session.

 You tell me if any worked for you or what combinations work and what hacks you created to... Get. Stuff. Done.