As someone who has worked from home for the past three years, I wanted to share both sides of how people aspire to work from home and the more realistic end product that often results, especially considering current events we are all dealing with. It’s ok to not have a perfected method, and it’s allowed to give yourself some grace. We can aim to achieve the best setting and methods, but reality can set in quickly and that’s ok! These are judgement free tips.

And for no reason at all, I’ve added pictures of my dog, because I say right now we all need more furry friends getting us through.

Work fRom home TIPS

1.Shower in the Morning.

Ideal scenario:  Shower first thing when you wake up every morning. It fully allows you to be alert and let all those freely-formed thoughts that often spark the best ideas to come to you in the shower when your brain isn’t focused on anything in particular.  

Realistic Scenario:  Embrace the grease—nature’s natural lubricant.  Dry shampoo was made for times like this; why must you fight a blessing that has been given to you. Let body hair run wild, and master the messy bun and mascara only look for Zoom meetings.  

2.Get dressed every day.

Ideal Scenario: Wear what makes you feel good. Go through your closet and put together cute outfits each day that brighten your mood. Document them and share them, and toy with the idea of an at-home fashion account that will inspire others to be their best self.

Realistic Scenario:  Embrace the loungewear renaissance. Wear those sweatpants with the broken drawstring that keeps sliding down your hips. Adorn yourself with the mac and cheese crusted sweatshirt you’ve had since college and wear it proudly because it still fits. If you want to feel trendy, tie-dye your sweat pants as the kids do! By all means, don’t create unnecessary loads of laundry during a global pandemic that causes you to run out for detergent for no good reason.  Do whatever makes you feel good and happy. You aren’t a slob if you work in pj’s and you aren’t extra if you get cute and put on makeup.

3.Coffee, yes, but don’t forget water!

Ideal Scenario:  Drink water all day long, especially at night before you go to bed and first thing in the morning. This helps the body's natural detox process and will help keep your brain clear and keep headaches away.

Realistic Scenario: Do whatever it takes to survive, but yes, also drink water. 

4.Track your productivity time.

Ideal Scenario: You never know when you’ll need to prove productivity, and for freelancers, every minute logged matters when billing. There are different apps and resources people use. You can also go old school and use all those planners we love to buy or a desk calendar and log your time.

Realistic Scenario:  Complete tasks as they come, remember to eat. Try and stop working at a reasonable time. Do your best, but don’t be hard on yourself if you forget.

5.When you need to focus, put your phone somewhere else.

Ideal Scenario:  More than ever, we are getting texts, WhatsUp chats, DM’s, and everything in-between to stay connected. To focus on minimal distractions, put your phone in another room. Leave the sound on, so if there is an emergency, you will be alerted, but otherwise, keep it away from so you’re not tempted to grab it every time you hit a wall.

Realistic Scenario:  Check your phone every ten minutes so you can send your best friends memes to get them through the day. It’s called being a good friend!

6.Have an organized and inspirational workspace.

Ideal Scenario: Have a dedicated office or workspace. Hopefully, it’s cute and aesthetically pleasing with lots of plants, and perhaps just so instaworthy that Apartment Therapy will contact you for a feature once you do an inevitable workspace tour on IG Live. Make sure it’s free of clutter: you want calm, not chaotic. Whatever your work area is, do your best to keep it clean and free of piles of "stuff".

Realistic Scenario:   Find the best corner in your home to sit slightly sad in every day. If you have the same space each day, that’s great. If not, what does it matter when your Zoom background has you living your best life near the Golden Gate bridge. Indulge in that fantasy, blow a fan directly on you and eat some sourdough you made that week that didn’t turn out great. If you don’t have a dedicated space, rotate and keep things interesting, like your own new co-working space each day. One that is covered in the fur of your current best happy-hour bud, your dog (or cat). Or one that is closest to the nearest bathroom for when you’ve had too much coffee. Maybe one that is in the kitchen so you can keep an eye on how fast the bar cart supply is dwindling.  The snacks aren’t free, but at least you only have up pay your standard rent to be a member!

7.Meal prep ahead of time for healthy meals and snacks.

Ideal Scenario: Have a stocked fridge of easy-to-grab, often pre-prepared salads, hummus, fresh veggies, and fruit bowls. Also, keep some fun fizzy drinks to enjoy throughout the day, when plain water isn’t doing the trick.

Realistic Scenario: Continue to feast on the BOGO Cheez-Its you bought the last time you braved the grocery store only to find most aisles were still empty. For fun, dig deep into the back of your freezer to see what sad and forgotten microwavable meals may still be lurking under the one-inch layer of freezer burn. Also, don’t pretend you are too good to roll lunch meet and cheese together. That’s a homemade Lunchable sans the harmful plastic!

8.Go outside and sit in the sun.

Ideal Scenario: Vitamin D is also referred to as the “Sunshine Vitamin”. Even though temps are getting hotter, being cooped up for hours on end, just like in an office, isn’t suitable for anyone. Whether it’s the backyard or front porch, taking a 10-minute break to soak up some sunshine has positive effects.  

Realistic Scenario: I actually stand by this. Also, if you share a workspace with another person(s) it also allows you a place to go outside and scream.

Stay well my friends and just do your best each day!

All these pictures are of my dog of 15 years, Rylee. She makes everything better.