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Working from home? Here's how to be a good boss to yourself
With rising numbers of us rapidly having to adjust to home-working, long-time freelancer Anna Hart offers some advice
Working from home is hard work. We’re all aware of the much-touted benefits: no commute, a respite from office politics, the thrill of working on your sofa, fewer distractions, stemming the spread of a global pandemic. But stepping out of the structures of the regular working day isn’t the immediate upgrade it seems. Get it wrong, and it’s easy to wind up feeling unmotivated, unproductive, unkempt and lonely. So if you’re working from home this week, here’s how to be a better boss to yourself….
Mono-Task
One of the most challenging aspects of working in an open-plan office is that we’re all expected to multi-task. Working from home allows you to mono-task. “Do one thing at a time,” says clinical psychologist Linda Blair. “Research shows that multi-tasking takes up to 50 per cent longer and we make more mistakes than if we acted sequentially.”
List-making can help reduce anxiety. “At the end of each day, set aside ten minutes to list everything you hope to do tomorrow,” says Blair. “Rank it in order, then pop the top three on a post-it. The others are a backlist. This means you can leave unfinished tasks at work, and wake up the next morning with a plan.”
Try Zero-Tolerance
A 2019 study at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in California found that information acts on the brain’s dopamine-producing reward system in the same way as money or food. This makes news sites and social media apps highly addictive - and explains how you can suddenly realise you’ve been browsing them for 45 minutes instead of working. Give yourself a break from distractions (and guilt) with websites and apps like Offtime, SelfControl and Freedom, that allow you to block certain URLS or apps for an allotted period, so you can get your work done in peace.
Posh Up Your Pop-Up Office
No decent boss would expect a valued employee to deliver their best work if they were sitting next to a mountain of unpaid bills and other distracting life admin. It’s worth spending a few minutes clearing your table, because this is going to be how you spend the next eight hours.
“And think about ergonomics,” says Simon Freedman, an osteopath (simonfreedman.com). “If you work on a laptop, use a stack of books or a stand to bring it up to eye level, and use a separate keyboard and mouse.” And if you’re really entering dream boss territory, buy a candle, or bunch of flowers for your desk.
Go Large With Lunch
In the office, many of us have got into the habit of working through lunch. There’s a huge body of evidence about the importance of mindful eating, and working from home is a great opportunity to kick the eating ‘al desko’ habit and embrace mindful eating. Stick to your guns and slam your laptop shut at 1pm, and resolve to take at least 45 minutes. This is plenty of time to rustle up a healthy home-cooked meal; try meal subscription services like MindfulChef or Hello Fresh if you’re short on time and inspiration.
Keep Up Appearances
Thanks to a surge in video-conferencing, many of us are having to rapidly perfect the art of looking professional at home. A quick word: there’s a balance to be struck between being comfortable, and being a slob. One freelancer trick is to wear leggings and a t-shirt but keep a blazer close by that you can throw on for an unexpected video call.
Remember, it’s not just you on show - it’s your home. A row of socks drying on the radiator isn’t the desired image, so ensure you’re taking calls in front of a wall, bookshelf, or, if it comes to it, on the floor with the sofa behind you. Or try Zoom software, which has a ‘virtual background’ feature.
Work 9-5
If your employer is outcome-oriented and you’ve been given freedom over your working hours, be aware that it’s a double-edged sword. Yes, it’s precious to have the flexibility to fit work around childcare or other responsibilities.
But not working to a pattern is a recipe for terrible work/life balance; you feel guilty for not being available when others need you, and find yourself at your desk when nobody else is. It’s worth sticking, as much as possible, to the good old 9-5. Overlapping hours as much as possible with co-workers means swifter communication and quicker decisions.
Give Yourself A Bespoke Break
Being able to build in regular breaks is one of the biggest perks of working from home, but it’s really not a break if you spend it doing the dishes. Make sure that you take at least one break during the day that is dedicated to you. This might be meditation with an app like Calm or Headpace.
It could be watching a TED talk. Or it could be a 30-minute walk, guided by GoJauntly, a new app that uses your location to find local photo-guided walks in nature, or around areas of interest. It could even be a 20-minute nap; a recent NASA study indicated that even a power nap can increase alertness by 100 per cent.