by Kate Lewis for fluxo
We’ve all heard tips on how to stay productive when working from home—take a midday walk, invest in a standing desk, change out of pajamas every once in a while, etc. Do these work for some people? Probably. Will they work for everyone? Perhaps not.
As someone who has never known the post-grad workforce in anything other than a post-pandemic reality (lockdown hit when I was in college), I have a few tidbits of wisdom—perhaps somewhat unorthodox ones—to offer, to shout into the void, in hopes that it might help someone. After years of working, studying, networking, applying, existing from home, here’s what I got for ya:
Be social on weeknights
This is one I learned right after I started my first job out of college. At first I was not the person who wanted to meet for a movie or drinks on a Tuesday night. Weeknights were for reading, meal-prepping, and not staying up late (I always stayed up late). Getting home after 11pm on what, in my stunted mind, was still considered a school night? Blasphemy—blasphemy that couldn’t possibly be good for the next day’s productivity.
But, like every single other thing in life, socializing is relative. It does not need to mean that I’ll be wiped the next morning. I quickly learned that seeing an 8pm movie that gets out around 10pm means I’m still home hours before I’d be asleep. Same for a few rounds of trivia at the corner bar with friends. Same for a comedy show. Same for attempting to make contact with the dead (for legal reasons, this is a joke).
In short, having things to look forward to—and get you out of the house—during the work week makes Friday afternoon come way faster. Take it from someone who lives for the weekend.
Pick up easily-accessible hobbies
When I say “easily-accessible” I mean hobbies that you can physically reach for. Knitting, reading, basket-weaving, anything where you have to hold something beside your phone or laptop in your hands. YOUR EYES NEED A BREAK FROM THE CONSTANT SCREEN TIME. If you’ve been staring at the same document or deck for a few hours and can afford to take a break, please do so and work on a scarf for your niece for ten minutes.
This is not me telling you to blow off work to crochet for half the day (of course not, my manager is probably going to read this at some point), but just that five or ten minutes of a screen break here or there where you are also doing something that brings you a little bit of serotonin is more beneficial to your overall net productivity for the day because it keeps your mind fresh. And it’s great for your mental health! And what is it all for if we lose our minds to the corporate agenda?
Talk to yourself and make mistakes
Stay with me here. There are a lot of things you can do at home that you can’t do in the office: wear pajamas, send emails from your bed, hum under your breath (if you were doing this in-office, that’s not great), the list could go ON.
But a lot of these things are not actually conducive to a productive work day. They are the things that people love about remote working at first, but quickly become the reason we feel sluggish and tired all week, and thus, not productive. However, there are two things that, I believe, are extremely beneficial to the work you produce, but are best practiced in the comfort of your own home, apartment, bungalow, dwelling, etc.
First, I am a big supporter of thinking out loud. Talking yourself through an idea, vocalizing a new challenge with a project, or just reading an email out loud to yourself, can bring forth new ideas, clarity, or perhaps an unseen issue that you might’ve not found otherwise. Also, if you live alone, it’s good to keep those vocal cords warm.
Secondly, make mistakes! F*ck up! No one is watching! When you don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder or sitting five feet away with visual access to your screen or notes, then is the time to try out the ideas you might’ve written off as stupid in your head. Write the article you were worried about being too controversial, try the excel formula you were told wouldn’t work, edit the video in the cut that, yes, wasn’t that funny, but at least you tried! Because you can try without the worry of judgement or criticism. And simply trying is possibly one of the most productive things you can do. Unless, of course, you’re working in the same Google Doc as your evil coworker. In that case, godspeed 🫡
