COVID-19 has flipped our world upside down. We’re all making adjustments to make our environments safer. One of those adjustments is working remote. Many of us find ourselves at makeshift offices in our homes: kitchen tables, fold out tables, living room sofas and coffee tables. Revel has been #WFH for two and half weeks and we feel like we’re really getting the hang of it. Read on for our favorite tips to make working from home a breeze.
1. Take a Walk
Been staring at that blinking cursor a bit too long? Feeling the post-lunch 2:30 sleepies? Maybe just a mental block? Take a break! We love walks here at Revel but a simple change of scenery will suffice; yes, that includes your couch. Studies have shown that taking a walk can give you as much energy as a cup of coffee (we’re still drinking our morning cup or several cups of joe.) In addition to providing that extra natural boost of energy, walking also helps with memory and cognitive function.
2. Create a Routine
When we work at an office, we have a routine. We wake up, get ready, commute to work, work, and then commute home. The steps throughout the day serve as checkmarks to help us stay focused on each day’s tasks and also signal when it’s time to go home. When working from home, it’s easy to let those checkmarks become nonexistent, but DON’T LET THEM. Create an at home routine that helps break up the day to allow you to stay focused on work. But when it’s time to be done for the day, walk away. Don’t let the new-found proximity to work disrupt your work-life balance.
3. Stay Connected
If you ask a Reveler about what they like most about working at Revel, the response will likely be, “the people.” We’re a small close-knit group. Once we decided to begin our quarantine, we immediately began brainstorming ways that we could stay well connected; for workflow and because we just like each other but mostly that work thing!
Slack and Zoom are our favorite tools to stay connected. In addition to using our tools for work tasks, we also use them for a virtual happy hour on Fridays (Beer and board games anyone?)
4. Designate A Space for Your Office
The Revelers home office spaces all look a little different. A few of us work from our kitchen tables, others use folding tables as desks in spare bedrooms and some of us have actual home offices. The one thing all of our office spaces have in common? They’re empty when we need a break and when we stop working. By creating a space to work, we create a physical and/or mental boundary for work. Our goal is to take care of our clients and our own mental well-being. If we’re not 100% neither is the work we produce.
5. “Work From Home” doesn’t mean “Work All of The Time”
We’ve noticed that we feel an even greater sense of responsibility to our work while working from home (which is a LOT of responsibility because we’re already v-responsible people). It’s easy to feel like you have to be at your desk not only for typical work hours, but also after hours. “Will my team need me?”, constantly runs through our minds. Create a routine (see step 2) and communicate it to your coworkers. Then, leave evening and weekend hours for YOU. Productivity cannot and should not look the same amidst extraordinary circumstances.
