Temporarily Working from Home? Why Routines Matter
Before the Corona Virus shut things down, you and your family had work and school day routines that were pretty much accepted, understood, and followed.
Then came shelter at home. All of a sudden, all of the routines, not only for you, but for the people in your family and everyone else that you’re working with were discombobulated.
All of your routines – yours, your families, your coworkers, your bosses – were disrupted. And what happens with that is it creates a lot of unknown. A lot of stress. It creates a lot of consternation on top of the potential loneliness that you’re feeling and trying to figure it all out and make it work.
It is challenging to stay as productive as you were in the workplace when your full apple cart was upset. That be a real challenge.
Routines to the rescue!
One of your most valuable strategies or allies is to recombobulate your routines. Routines matter. And the more swiftly you come up with routines that work for you and those around you, the more you can adjust to your “new normal.”
Many times when when I’m working with my coaching clients and they have to take on something new, what I say to them is “start the way you’re going to finish.”
What that means is be intentional about your routines and be intentional about how you’re going to be spending your time and organizing your work. Because if you’re not, it will do it to you. Routines will emerge that may not be the most productive or effective. New habits can fill a void.
So be intentional about the routines that you and those around you are newly adopting.
When I first started working from home someone gave me some great advice. He said you need to “GO to work.” It’s almost like when you step over the transom, you are working and when you step back over the transom you are at home. And so, in your mind, it’s a mindset that you GO to work.
Carefully consider what routines will best work for you and those around you.
Routines to consider are when you start work, when you take your lunch hour, when you take breaks, and when you finish work. The more consistent they are, the more others will understand your routines, and the more you can embrace and enforce them for yourself.
What routines are you following? Have you communicated them with others who interface with you? Does it take advantage of your high and low energy times?
Routines can be different for different people. An excellent strategy is to match your routine with your energy levels. In other words if you are high-energy in the morning, your routine may include being at your desk earlier rather than later. If you have an energy spurt after taking a walk at lunch, that can be a routine that it is an advantage of you working out of your home.
Working from home presents the unique challenge of “you can’t leave home to go to work, and you can’t leave work to go home.” The best strategy is to do that mentally, rather than physically. It will enable you to enjoy the benefits of working from home, such as walking your dog on your break, less time spent commuting, and more time to be productive at the times that work for you.
There is a Silver lining and all this – the key is to be intentional about your new situation – to understand why routines matter, and to get yours in place as soon as you can.
If you enjoyed this, you can listen to our free webinar that aired on April 2, 2020. In addition to talking about routines we talked about another of a number of other strategies that you can employ including managing interruptions, avoiding distractions, communicating with your boss, and enhancing your career and value to your company through a trying time. Here is the link – enjoy!
