Tips and Tricks for Working From Home Like a Pro
In today’s uncertain times, working from home has become the norm. For many folks, this might be the first time they’ve worked from home and it can be an adjustment. Over the past decade, I’ve had the opportunity to work remotely - including a lot of travel and working from hotels!
Here are some of the Tips & Tricks that work for me:
Act Like it’s a Normal Workday: for me, this means dressing like I’m going to the office, carving out a separate space and ensuring no disruptions. This is going to continue to be difficult given many of our partners and children are also home with us – having a separate room / space will help with this.
Set out Your Tasks for the Day: write out your goals for the day and enter the day with a Plan. It’s important that you keep yourself accountable for what you need to accomplish and don’t get distracted. This isn’t PTO – we need to maintain our levels of productivity.
Stay in Communication with your Team(s): working remotely can be lonely. Don’t allow yourself to feel isolated – chat with people on Slack, pick up the phone and call people (I know, I know, this sounds CRAZY!), and use your webcam for meetings. It’s important we feel together during this time.
Focus on Your Wellbeing: it’s important that just because you are working from home, you continue invest in your personal life. This can be as simple as taking coffee breaks, calling a friend or loved on, exercising and powering down at your normal hours. Working from home can make it challenging to ever feel disconnected and you need to act with purpose to make it happen.
Ask for Help: just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean your team isn’t ready to jump in to help. If you need something to become more productive, just ask!
Continuing Operating with a Security-First Mindset: attackers will see this as an opportunity to target less-secure WFH environments. It’s important that we maintain vigilance to securing our customer’s data as well as our own. Be smart with where you bring your laptops (i.e. don’t leave in cars, etc.), lock your screens in public, and keep up with our security policies. You can get some additional ideas here: https://threatpost.com/working-from-home-covid-19s-constellation-of-security-challenges/153720/
Regardless of how long the current environment last, it’s becoming evident that a work from home model is becoming commonplace for organizations looking to hire the best talent regardless of location. Preparing yourself for this inevitable future is good step to finding your dream job!
