{"id":2379,"date":"2017-10-09T20:19:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T04:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jaeminyi.com\/?p=2379"},"modified":"2018-01-12T16:18:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-13T00:18:13","slug":"survive-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jaeminyi.com\/survive-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Survive Working from Home"},"content":{"rendered":"
The only real job I\u2019ve ever worked was at the Taco Bell in my college\u2019s food court. 1Which, I would like to add, was WAY more fun and fulfilling than the fancier internships I had later on. And taught me more to boot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Besides that, my entire decade of work experience has been running a production studio<\/a> from the comfort of my home (and my sweatpants).<\/p>\n Sounds like the dream, right? <\/p>\n But make no mistake, the freedom of working from home can quickly become its own hell.<\/p>\n My first few years were filled with an endless haze of waking up past my alarm, pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, and feeling completely unmotivated and alone.<\/p>\n Yeah, not so fun.<\/p>\n It took me the better part of a decade to figure out how to work from home in a non-soul-deadening way.<\/p>\n As of the last few years, it finally feels healthy, enjoyable, and incredibly fulfilling. Now, I wouldn’t give it up for anything.<\/p>\n Here are a few things that helped me get to that place. <\/p>\n Your mileage may vary, but this is the advice I wish I could\u2019ve given to myself years ago\u2026<\/p>\n Mornings really are as important as they say. How you start your mornings sets the tone for the rest of your day.<\/p>\n Wake up at the SAME GODDAMN TIME every single weekday!<\/strong> Look, I get it. You\u2019re working from home and you think that you don\u2019t need routine. That you can sleep in whenever you feel like it.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t do it. For the love of God.<\/p>\n This messed me up for years. Turns out, routine is an amazing thing that most office people take for granted because it\u2019s forced upon them.<\/p>\n Without routine, your body gets confused. Your sleep quality suffers. Your mornings start off muddled, hazy, and with no motivation. Setting a horrible tone that the rest of the day usually followed. <\/p>\n Keep your phone\/alarm across the room.<\/strong> Since you don\u2019t actually NEED to be anywhere at a certain time, the temptation to snooze will be incredibly seductive. Keep your phone or alarm across the room so you have to actually get OUT of bed to turn it off.<\/p>\n Keep your phone in airplane mode until after breakfast.<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s right. You don\u2019t actually need to be bombarded by texts and useless notifications immediately upon waking. Give yourself 30-60 minutes of feeling grounded, peaceful, and focused before you open the floodgates of stress and brain activity. <\/p>\n Meditate for a few minutes before you start the day.<\/strong> This gets your day started off at a grounded, centered baseline. Anchor yourself in the present moment and be reminded of what\u2019s important, before you get swept up in your flurry of thoughts and worries. Doing this consistently will give you a stronger and stronger anchor over the years.<\/p>\n And you don\u2019t have to sit in lotus pose or do anything fancy. I literally just set a timer when I\u2019m in the bathroom and stare at the wall for 5 minutes before I brush my teeth.<\/p>\n And\/or do a few quick stretches.<\/strong> Getting the blood moving and using your body first thing in the morning helps you wake up and feel alive. (Child\u2019s Pose or a quick Downwardfacing Dog is a great way to start the day).<\/p>\n Make a quick, healthy smoothie for breakfast.<\/strong> Get a Nutribullet and make a green smoothie for breakfast. Super healthy. Quick. Easy on your digestive system. And you can get to work immediately and drink as you answer emails.<\/p>\n My favorite combo: 2-3 handfuls of leafy greens, 1-2 fruits, your favorite protein powder, and anything else you want to add to your diet (i.e. chia seeds, coconut milk, cacao, turmeric, mushroom powders<\/a>, etc).<\/p>\n Get out of the house as much as possible.<\/strong> Working from home, it\u2019s all too easy to stay in\u2026and get stuck\u2026and never leave. Not only will this make you feel cooped up and stir-crazy – it will start to make you resentful of your home.<\/p>\n Your dwelling will start to feel more like a prison rather than a comforting, rejuvenating place. This is the absolute last thing you want. <\/p>\n Home needs to be a safe place that you look forward to returning to. Or you\u2019ll get so burnt out, you\u2019ll have to move every 4-5 months (like I did for years).<\/p>\n I go to cafes as much as possible.<\/strong> I love their energy and casual vibe. Different cafes depending on the vibe I\u2019m feeling.<\/p>\n A co-working space is also an option. But unfortunately, they never worked for me. I\u2019ve tried tons of different spaces and they all made me feel\u2026lifeless. <\/p>\n It felt like all the dreariness of working from an office, but without any of the collaboration or shared community. Just a bunch of separate office workers all silently focusing on their own things.<\/p>\n Bleh.<\/p>\n There are 2 pieces of equipment I consider essential<\/strong> (besides the laptop):<\/p>\n A laptop stand.<\/strong> They elevate your laptop so you don\u2019t have to hunch your neck down. A lifesaver for your back.<\/p>\n (I love this Cosmos stand<\/a> because it\u2019s compact and is angled such that you don\u2019t have to buy a separate keyboard & mouse. Also feels more natural for the wrist, so take that carpal tunnel!)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Noise-cancelling earphones<\/strong> (I use Bose QuietComfort20’s<\/a>). I just can\u2019t work in public spaces without these. They allow you to drop into your own world. So necessary to focus and get in the zone.<\/p>\n (To really get into the zone, pair these with Brain.FM<\/a> – AI generated music made for the brain. It sounds like marketing hype, but these tracks make a noticeable difference when I need to focus!)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Paying attention to and managing your energy levels is everything. For productivity. For creativity. For happiness.<\/p>\n When my energy is high, I\u2019m at my absolute best. When my energy runs low, I become a useless, depressed blob.<\/p>\n Do your most important work first, when you have the most energy.<\/strong> As the day goes on, your energy will wane, so tackle the highest-priority items first while you still have the focus to handle them. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t know what they are? It\u2019s most likely the thing you\u2019re dreading the most. Just get it over with. Then it\u2019s all downhill from there.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t eat a carb heavy lunch.<\/strong> Or you\u2019ll go straight into a food coma and be useless for the whole afternoon. A protein-heavy salad or something light for lunch is perfect.<\/p>\n And always have a snack on hand (like a bag of nuts or some fruit).<\/strong> Never let yourself get too hungry and crash. Keep your blood sugar levels constant and steady throughout the day. No huge dips or crashes.<\/p>\n Do some physical activity every workday (or at least 3x a week).<\/strong> It doesn\u2019t have to be much. Even a minute of jumping jacks or a few pushups will do wonders for getting your blood moving and boosting your energy. Change the purpose of your workouts from looking good to feeling good<\/a>. (And use this as an excuse to get out of the house!)<\/p>\n Beware of Mindless Browsing<\/strong> When your energy is low, you\u2019ll be seductively pulled towards what I call Mindless Browsing: endlessly scrolling through Facebook or Reddit with no end in sight. <\/p>\n This is the quicksand of working from home. Once you\u2019re in this trap, it\u2019s nearly impossible to get out. And it can easily kill your entire day.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I recommend keeping your energy levels high, but also carving out time for your distractions\u2026<\/p>\n When working from home, there\u2019s no one setting your schedule. There\u2019s no one cracking the whip. <\/p>\n You\u2019re 100% accountable for how you spend your time. And you quickly find out that being productive – and not burning yourself out – is much harder than you thought.<\/p>\n The key is to work smarter, not harder.<\/p>\n Work in short, focused bursts.<\/strong> It\u2019s like sprinting. If you try to treat work like an all day marathon, you\u2019re gonna burn out real quick. <\/p>\n I loosely follow the Pomodoro Method<\/a><\/strong>, where you set a timer for 25-30 minutes and work laser-focused on a single task until the timer goes off. While the timer\u2019s ticking, no distractions. No checking your phone, checking emails, or juggling other tasks.<\/p>\n (This means turning your phone face-down and putting it on vibrate<\/strong> – so you\u2019re not constantly interrupted by notifications and being pulled out of the zone.)<\/p>\n Then when the timer goes off, take a quick 5 minute break to get all that distraction out of your system. Swipe away on Tinder or check your Twitter feed, but once your break is over, it\u2019s time to get back to work!<\/p>\n The basic idea being: when you work, work. When you goof off, goof off.<\/strong> Allow yourself to cleanly separate the two and fully get the most out of both.<\/p>\n Do your best to CLEARLY delineate between focused productivity sessions and goofing off time.<\/strong> Both are important, but it\u2019s when those two constantly blend throughout the day, that you get in trouble. A whole day will go by and you\u2019ll feel like you neither got anything done NOR got to really relax and enjoy yourself.<\/p>\n Now I don\u2019t religiously follow this system, but I loosely structure my days with \u201c30 minutes of focused work, short break, rinse, repeat\u201d.<\/p>\n And it is SO much more effective. Helps break down the long, intimidating workday into small, easy chunks. And keeps my work laser-focused while still making time for the silly, fun stuff (which, I would argue, is still important).<\/p>\n Set timers for everything.<\/strong> You can use the timer on your phone, but I prefer using timers that give you a clear visual indicator of how much time you have left (such as the digital FocusBooster<\/a> or the physical Time Timer<\/a> – I enjoy using both).<\/p>\n Set alarms for everything.<\/strong> If I have an appointment I need to get to at 3pm, I\u2019ll set an alarm for 2:45pm to remind myself to get out of the house. This keeps me from constantly checking the time and distracting myself. Now I don\u2019t need to think about it. My alarm will tell me when it\u2019s time to make moves.<\/p>\n Protip: it\u2019s way faster to tell Siri (or Google Now) to set your timers and alarms.<\/strong><\/p>\n When taking breaks from work, move your body!<\/strong> Get up and walk around. Do some light stretches. Dance or wiggle about.<\/p>\n Shake things up (literally) and give your body a break from all that damned sitting. <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been playing around with only letting myself check Facebook or Twitter while standing up or dancing around.<\/strong> Keeps me from getting too comfortable and lazy. At the very least, now these \u201cunproductive\u201d activities help wake myself up a bit.<\/p>\n Batch as much as possible.<\/strong> For example, instead of checking your email every 5 minutes (constantly interrupting your flow throughout the day and making you feel crazy), try checking your email just a few times a day. And when you do, clear all your emails in one, focused batch.<\/p>\n And on this note, turn off notifications for emails!<\/strong> You shouldn\u2019t be pinged every single time you get an email. More notifications may make you feel busier, but you\u2019ll be way less productive.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry so much about finding the perfect productivity system.<\/strong> There is no one-size-fits all. Take what works for you, discard the rest, and continually tweak and evolve as you go. (I personally create my own Daily Planner using Evernote, then use Trello to get a bigger project view of things.)<\/p>\nStart Your Mornings Right<\/h2>\n
Get Out<\/h2>\n
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Energy is Everything<\/h2>\n
Be Productive (and Unproductive) in Short Bursts<\/h2>\n