A lot of you may be working from home for an extended period of time now and for the foreseeable future. Until this past fall I spent most of the last decade working from home except for when I would speak at conferences or visit clients on-site. Here are my tips for working from home for an extended period of time.
1. Get dressed, shave, put on make-up, or do whatever you normally do to start your workday. It will also help students realize that we’re not on a vacation or snow day if they see their teachers on video are dressed like it’s a normal school day.
2. Create expectations for clients/students/parents about when you will be responding to emails and phone calls. For my current students I have already told them that I’ll be posting their assignments and hosting video conferences at the times that their classes normally meet.
3. Put a social media blocker on your laptop. I use a Chrome Extension called Stay Focusd (intentionally misspelled) that will block my access to Facebook and Twitter after ten minutes. It’s way too easy to say, “I’ll just check Facebook for a minute” and then go down a rabbit hole for 20 minutes.
4. Exercise. This doesn’t have to be a “work out.” Just walking around your yard or neighborhood for 10-15 minutes can be a great way to reset your brain after staring at your computer screen for a couple of hours.
I originally wrote the tips above as an email to my colleagues. The response was overwhelmingly positive so I thought some more people would like to read the tips.