So 5 years later, has anyone worked out how to actually be productive when you're working from home?
I'm not being a class traitor here, I'm still more productive than when I'm in the office, but at the same time I find myself fucking up during the day and then having my chickens come home to roost the night before a deadline along with shirking any additional responsibility unless it sounds fun.
I only briefly worked from home but I found it was basically impossible to stay on task as long as I was in my normal "off duty" environment. Instead, I would work in the kitchen at the table next to the window, so it was still a pleasant space, but not one I normally associate with dossing about on imageboards or wanking.
Mentally, the kitchen is a kind of a liminal space of functionality, not leisure; I associate it with either preparing a meal or those periods of time where you have to be somewhere but you have that quick rushed cuppa, couple of slices of toast and a cig before leaving. I'd put Radio 4 or World Service on instead of YouTube/Netflix, and treat it like it was basically a work environment. It's jsut a work environment that I had control over, instead of a flourescent light purgatory full of cunts.
The advantage of working from home is really that you don't have a commute and you can make your own food, not actually that you are at home. Personally I had the opposite issue to most in that I don't like work invading and encroaching on my private space. I will never work in an office again if I can help it, but it's almost as bad, if not worse, to have the office colonise your home life.
>>15196 This is the way. I've gone for a home office that's decorated and lit specially differently to where I relax. The computer is set up differently to the fun/social one, I don't bring my phone into the room, the chair is a more upright office chair, basically everything is set up to reduce distractions and use environmental cues to let my body and mind know I'm there for working.
- Remaining social. There's about half a dozen people at work I'll regularly have a catch up with on Teams to chat shit with. You need people to have a laugh with and who allow you to blow off steam about any work frustrations.
- Have a proper lunch break. Go for a walk. Prepare a meal ready for the evening. Watch a bit of telly. Do something that's in a different environment to where you work. Sometimes I take about 40/45 minutes around 12 and then 15/20 minutes around 3 because I find it breaks the day up more.
Otherlads have already covered the major ones, so I'll just elaborate a bit on my setup.
>>15197 >I've gone for a home office that's decorated and lit specially differently to where I relax.
Exactly the same, I have very bright "grow" lights in my office lamps which serve the double purpose of keeping my plants healthy and being very alertness-enhancing. The ceiling light is also a cool colour temperature (5000K and up). Additionally, the more natural light you can get, the better. Work somewhere near a window if you can, as >>15196 says.
>>15198 >Have a proper lunch break. Go for a walk. Prepare a meal ready for the evening.
The added benefit of doing these are that they build into having a routine, which is critical for me. When you're commuting and your lunch break is at a particular time, your routine is partially made for you. When you're at home, though, you need to make more effort to create and maintain one.
When it comes to staying focused: I have a giant whiteboard in my home office that lists all the things I should be focusing on in a visual way. I also write out my specific daily tasks on a notebook I have propped up in front of my face the entire day, so I don't just end up playing e-mail tennis for hours.
I'd also recommend keeping your workspace as free as possible from domestic affairs. Sometimes it's okay to sit down and pay bills or shop online, but be warned that the more you let that encroach, the more that will become the purpose of your job.
>Remaining social. There's about half a dozen people at work I'll regularly have a catch up with on Teams to chat shit with.
This is one I wish I'd realised sooner. I have a few friends that I keep up with from previous jobs in the same industry that help me out, but I don't do this as much as I should with current colleagues. I'd recommend against supplanting your colleagues with an online clique, but if you do end up finding some online community that you like, make sure it's at least tangentially related to your work or, at the very least, not running counter to your productivity. The Stack Exchange chats can be productive. Twitch, not so much.
