Simple solutions when you're tired of working from home
Get up, have breakfast and open your laptop on the kitchen table or in your home office aka the guest room. 48 percent of the working population still does it. What am I saying? We have even become more positive about working from home, 71 percent is in favor and 45 percent thinks it will stick around.
Even the Amayzers have been sitting at the kitchen table since Friday the thirteenth of March (and not in bed). Even though I have become quite skilled at working from home, sometimes I go crazy sitting at the same table in the same chair in the same kitchen from half past seven in the morning until half past nine in the evening. Think in solutions, people say, so I have some for you.
1. Move your desk to a different place
Flip the guest room, create a mobile desk that you can move around the house or invest in a good parasol and sit in the garden or on your balcony. A different view makes you more creative and productive.
2. Work together with a colleague for a day
Set up your garden table as a workstation and invite your (very healthy) colleague to come work with you for a day. It’s a breath of fresh air to talk to a moving co-worker in the flesh.
3. Go out for lunch
It’s wise to take your lunch break anyway and not (this message is for myself) quickly shove a stir-fry mix down your throat behind your laptop. If you go out for lunch, you have a physical break in your workday, which is healthy.
4. Have an eight-hour video call
I sometimes do this with our Annick. Eight hours may not have happened yet, but there are days when I called her at half past nine in the morning and she was still ’on‘ around lunch. And we don’t even have to talk, just writing comfortably and occasionally saying something, knowing she’s still there. Almost like in the office.
5. Change your working hours
If you feel like you’re getting into a rut, it’s smart to take a look at your working hours. For example, I prefer to start very early, half past seven is not unusual, I like to step out for a bit in the afternoon and work a bit in the early evening. By the way, it’s handy to discuss this with your chief before you find yourself nose-deep in swimsuits in a store while she/he thinks you’re glued to your laptop.
6. Get up and take a walk
Sitting non-stop behind your computer is not good for anyone. Let that upstairs room air out a bit by stretching your legs. It has been shown that doing something for yourself for a moment leads to higher productivity. 7. Organize a one-and-a-half-meter outdoor drink.
It doesn’t have to be about work right away, but a nice glass of wine on a picnic blanket is also nice. This way you see each other for a moment, can look someone in the eye, and it almost feels like old times again.
8. Do a house swap.
Just a different wallpaper, as my best friend’s wife called it. I’ve been preaching this advice ever since. It’s nice to be in a different environment from time to time, but if the office isn’t open yet or you don’t like this for whatever reason: swap houses. This is especially ideal if there are no vacationing children or working-from-home partners involved, so a little disclaimer.
9. Make your meetings mobile.
I try to call a few people every week, just to check in and see how they are doing at home. I prefer to do this while I’m walking outside or when I’m in the car. This way you get a break yourself, but you’re also updated on the well-being of your fellow human beings.
woman working in a cafe.
