Well, Covid brought new lifestyles in with a bang! Especially when it comes to remote work and school.

I personally have worked remote for years and often people say to me, “Oh, I wish I could work remote or how can I get a job like that?” I try to give a bit of insight advising them it is likely not how you imagine it would be. Remote or at the office, you are still on the Job, have the same commitments of productivity, and often you are monitored even more than at the office. Some companies even increase your volume. The outlook being, when working from home you shouldn’t have as many interruptions as when working at the office. Typically, that same person looks at me and says, “ya, I guess you could be right but, I can handle it.” So, in other words they don’t believe me. Funny thing, some of those same people are working from home now and are singing a new song, ” it is harder than I expected and I miss going to the office. My family can’t get it thru their heads I am at work! And you were right, my job gave me more responsibilities.” So, today I want to share some Life tips for working remote.

1. Get up and get dressed! Just like going to the office. Well, maybe not just like you would for work. Staying in your PJ’s does not send message to your brain, it’s time to work! Take shower, get out of your PJ’s and put on casual work clothes, spend at least 20 mins. with God in some fashion, have a bite of breakfast and get your mind in work mode. Log in.
2. Take your 10 min. breaks to Stretch and step away from the computer. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Do Not do chores. Do a 5 min. breathing meditation, step outside and enjoy a quiet moment. Take at least a 30 min. lunch & eat Lunch! It helps if you prep what you want to have for lunch the day before or try some healthy shakes. I recently started again taking 5-10 mins. to do prayer at lunch to re-center myself. Yes, I had gotten off track and was doing chores and boy did I notice a difference in my day.
3. If you don’t have a room in your house you can make an actual office, pick a good quiet place where there is not a lot of family traffic. Put up a folding barrier or hang curtains from the ceiling you can close. Family needs to know when the cubicle is closed you are on company time. Do not set up where you can hear them watching TV etc. especially if you spend a lot of time on the phone or in webinars. The people you are interacting with can hear the background noise too. Even a rotating fan sounds like whirls of wind to the listener. It is very distracting and sometimes makes it hard for the hearer to hear you.
4. If you don’t have to interact much on the phone or webinars sometimes it is nice to listen to music, down low of course. If words distract your thinking there are a whole variety of instrumental music choices. My fav are violinist. My daughter turned me on to some of my fav songs and they do reduce my stress while I work. Check these out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5skSFHVJHk There are all forms of music including Hip Hop to violin. I Love what is being done by these artists. My absolute fav is Damien Escobar Purple Rain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAk1ncD5RmY
5. Homeschooling? Ask can you flex your schedule and work either a split day or a swing shift. This will give you focused time on school with the kiddies and focused time on work. If you are homeschooling and married Hubby needs to do his part too whether that be aid in teaching or in the housework. This is not a time Mom does it all. Everyone needs to remember; ” the only things that changed about the responsibilities of work and learning is the location & you don’t have to drive in.” The kids must still get an education and working parents must still provide, which means they need to focus and keep their job.
6. When you are Off, you are Off. Do not sit back down and start working cause your work is looking at you. That was one of my hardest things to adjust to. Which is another reason to have your work area separate from your day to day living space or at least make that cubby effect so you can close the office when your day is done.
7. This last one is whether working remote or at the office: I’ve started taking my PTO spread out over the year which is really paying off and along with the paid Holidays I am finding myself a lot less stressed. And actually have more quality time with loved ones. Example: take a Thursday, Friday with your weekend and you can take a get little vacation. I don’t know about you but, 4-5 days vacation is about all I can take financially or emotionally before it turns into a stressor instead of a relaxing get a way, which is what it should be for the whole family.

Ok folks, those are my tips on work and remote working, for now anyway. And No it is no cakewalk working and teaching remote. YOU Can Do It! Together with Love, communication, and endurance. Work out a schedule then work the plan…no slacking cause just like when raising a child in the way to go, consistency and keeping commitments is key.

Shalom!