“There is virtue in Work and there is virtue in Rest. Use both and overlook neither”.

During a stage in my career, I worked remotely from home most of the times and I always used to ponder and search the best ways to be productive while being at home where one can easily get distracted. I remember it took a while for me to get used to the environment away from my colleagues and seeing them only virtually as needed.

While attending a lot of conferences pertaining to my field I observed people faced the similar challenges everywhere being away from their colleagues, who were globally located and were finding new ways/ideas to be more close to their teammates (like meeting in person at least once every year with all the team members.. etc). Later in my career, I got a chance to completely work from the office location (without a single day in a week to be allowed to work from home as that’s what the job demanded). I can humbly say that I have had both flavors of working remotely, as well as the “mandatory work from office” situation and could gather/observe few of the pros and cons on both these working styles.

We being ‘social animals’ tend to be close with other human beings. And with the spread of Corona virus globally today, most of us are now working from home irrespectively. In the light of this, some of us have already planned the best practices that can be followed that are most suitable.

Some of the practices that I have been following myself are below and perhaps might be useful during the tough time we all are facing today.

1. SEPARATE OFFICE SPACE

This office space need not be extravagant, it could be a separate section of the house or a separate room specifically for working. This helps in building a focused mindset that the space is only for working to avoid any external distractions.

2. DO NOT DISTURB ME!

If needed place a DND board outside of the room :) .. just because I’m closing the door where I’m working doesn’t mean I’m having a malice with rest of the family members (or roommates). May be some like to chat a lot and some closes a door on you while they are working.. it is about being honest what works best for you so you could focus more based on your own working style.

3. MAINTAIN A SCHEDULE

I start my day jotting down what my goals are for that day ( I typically set 3-5 goals each day) so I can focus on the “outcomes” rather than the “tasks” or “checklists” to be done. It’s important to not confuse Movement with Achievement. Maintaining a schedule becomes even more important while working from home when there are lot of distractions already.

4. UTILIZE YOUR TIME TO THE MAXIMUM!

This perhaps was one of the biggest eyeopeners for me how much time I was wasting in an office. My personal take on this is; today we are in a world where everything is digital when compared to earlier times where your “work time” was given more importance than how much you have achieved. Just doing basic work and spending time behind the computers just for the sake of it, won’t help anyone during this time. Have an exceptional attitude even in this time of uncertainty.

We all will pass through this. Tough times come for us to realize that we need to be more effective in terms of resources, time and our attitudes.

Today Hug a little longer (Virtually :)) . Love a little Stronger. Forgive a little sooner and Smile a little Sweeter! :)