Freed by 50

For the past four years I’ve enjoyed the life of working from home as a full time employee.  I’ve had some struggles and made some mistakes, but overall it’s been a great experience that’s improved my quality of life.  With many people newly working from home, I thought I’d share some tips (even though I think this blog has one steady reader).

• • Wake up early.  Either wake up at the same time that you would when you were commuting or even earlier.  Your body will get in a rhythm if you sleep in, and returning to work will be that much harder.  If you wake up earlier than normal, you’ll also get into that rhythm, which will leave you more time to be productive when you return to commuting.  I generally wake up at six AM after almost exactly seven hours of sleep.
  • Stay away from social media, email, or news until after you’ve done something productive with your morning.  This may be the hardest thing in the world for you.  These things are time sucks, and you’ll easily piss away hours scrolling through your feeds.  Most days I wont look at any of this until at least an hour after I’ve gotten up.
  • Do something healthy.  After about an hour of being awake I put in about 10 minutes of stretching.  I still do my old lacrosse pre-game warm-up stretches, starting at the top of the body and working my way down.  I’m 41 with the flexibility of a 2×4, so this helps with the normal body aches.  Most days I’ll follow up with a 15-30 minute workout.  At a minimum I do about 100 jumping jacks just to get the blood flowing.
  • Eat a healthy breakfast.  You have the time to make yourself something healthy if you’re not commuting.  Do it while you can and hope the routine sticks.
  • Enjoy the time with your family/significant other/roommate.  I eat three meals a day with my wife and kids.  Even on a bad day it’s better than eating alone over my keyboard at work.
  • Separate your home and work lives as best you can.  This is easier said than done.  I’ve always had a spare bedroom or my basement available to use as office space.  I know plenty of people who work from their master bedroom due to lack of better options.  You’ll be more productive with a dedicated space to get your work done, and the people you’re meeting with will be thankful you’re not working in a high traffic area.
  • Be hyper aware of times your laptop camera is on!  I once joined a webinar and left my laptop sitting in the bathroom with me while I showered.  What I didn’t know was that they had it set to automatically enable cameras and mute microphones.  Thankfully I keep a slide over my laptop camera, so they only saw a black screen, but that could have been the end of my job right there!  Be aware of those around you as well.  I have a coworker whose spouse doesn’t wear a towel out of the bathroom after showering.  I have another who accidentally breast fed her baby on camera.  These are difficult moments to live down.
  • If you decide to go to the bathroom while on a conference call, triple check that your camera and microphone are off!  One of the joys of working from home is that you can take the meeting to the can and not miss anything.  Murphy’s law applies, and you will be asked that one important question while your toilet is still flushing, so be aware.  I find the best way to make sure my mic is off is to say something like “Hey can you guys hear me? I’m having audio problems.”  You can follow that up with “Check, check, hellooooooo, anyone can you hear me?”  If you don’t get an answer, let it fly!
  • Don’t snack.  Being home, it’s easy to graze as you pass through the kitchen time and again, but you have to resist the temptation.  This is a bad habit that can lead to a lot of unwanted weight gain.  Stick to your regular eating schedule.
  • Take time for yourself.  People will tell you to make sure to clearly delineate work time from home time, but I prefer a different separation that lends itself to a better work/life balance.  After completing my morning routine, I’ll often set my calendar for the entire day, clear out the email that I don’t need to action and make sure I’m up to speed on all of the issues that may have occurred after I signed off the previous day.  This all occurs before breakfast.  I’ll then go cook and eat breakfast with my family, clean up the kitchen, get dressed, etc.  I may not return to my desk until 10 AM.  Am I stealing time from my company?  No, I’m just reorganizing my time in the most productive way for me.  I may see that I have a two hour midday stretch where I’m caught up on work and have no meetings, so I’ll go mow the lawn.  Then I may wind up working after I’ve put the kids to bed.  This doesn’t mean I’m working from seven to seven, it means I’m working when it’s productive for me to work, and keeping up my home life when it makes sense to do so.  This has made me a far more productive person, and I feel like I get the best of both worlds while not being constrained to a 9-5 lifestyle.
  • Speak with your coworkers daily.  Working from home can be isolating, especially if you don’t have a family or roommates at home.  It’s important to interact with other humans daily.  Instant messaging is a nice way to have a quick chat, but it’s no replacement for real interaction.  If you’re fortunate enough to have video conferencing software available (and with Skype, Hangouts, Facetime, etc, you should), use it.  This forces you to actually look presentable and at least gets you face to face with a human.  Otherwise, get on the phone at least once a day with a coworker.  I try to speak to all 11 members of my team every single day.
  • Take breaks.  An odd side effect to working from home is that some people feel like they can’t get away from their desk.  It’s easy to be too available when you could be working at any time.  I keep my calendar perpetually blocked from 6-8:30 AM and 5:30-8 PM to remind myself not to work during those hours.  I also block off time for lunch and some breaks every day.

Not everyone is suited to working from home.  The transition can be difficult even if it isn’t forced on you.  Hopefully my experience can help you have more productive days working from home.