Here’s the catch. You are not working from home. You are at home trying to work. Think about it for a minute.
For most of you, this pandemic caused a huge shift. With it came the stress of trying to adapt to working from home. Not easy right? All the distractions, the news, the anxiety of trying to do everything are sometimes too much to handle.
First of all, let me begin bay saying this – working from home is not as easy as everyone thinks. We, at Socialprise, have been doing this for 14 years now. Through vigorous testing and trial & error, we got to learn how to manage our team and skills and set a work-life balance routine at the comfort of our home.
Currently, however, even we are facing difficulties with the COVID-19 crisis.
Socialprise was and still is among the very few to work from home in a society that requires people to report to the office and where office hours are the main worry of every employer. As if sitting at your desk in front of your computer guarantees that you are 100% productive. The challenges have now doubled with the COVID-19 crisis; it was a shock to the society, worldwide, especially when nobody was prepared.
With more than a decade of at-home working, I realized, just like any change, in order to adjust, you need to go through some phases.
Here are three phases you go through when working from home
Phase I: Frustration
You will get through a phase of anger, especially when you are new to this and you are not well equipped. Fight the urge of perfectionism. Cut yourself some slack.
The need to do all your tasks as soon as you receive them simply will lead you to demotivation.
It is impossible to do everything at once. Keep that in mind, IMPOSSIBLE! You need to take it easy. Working from home requires more discipline than that needed to work at an office.
Solution? Create a task list and divide your work the same way you would do if you were working at an office. Do not let your task list exceed five major tasks during the day and always leave room for the surprises. Your clients might also put pressure on you to finish all tasks immediately, remember, they are new to this as well. Reassure them that you will be doing it, however, do explain to them that you need time to work on it and set a deadline.
Phase II: Trial and Error
In the second phase, you are currently learning and adapting.
There are no guidelines to working from home, each one lives their own way. Always keep that in mind, what works for others doesn’t have to work for you, you need to adapt it to your own lifestyle.
It’s a phase of trial and error. You are learning to find the right tools and the time to work. Don’t pressure yourself. You will find them, keep in mind you need to be realistic.
Solution? Look at the tools you have in your hands- your laptop, your Wi-Fi connection, software, apps, etc. Check how you can use them in order to be more efficient. Keep note of those that are not available and discuss the need with your management, explain how these tools can make your work easier and more efficient and how they can serve the clients better.
Phase III: Adaptation
Finally, you are in a place where you can adapt to the challenges. You can finally know what is needed to accomplish your tasks successfully and efficiently.
This is the time to share your success with your team.
Solution? Inform your supervisor or manager of what was missing and how you overcame it. Always remember communicating with your team is key to success. So, take a moment to boast about your at-home strategy. You deserve it!
If you need a shortcut through all the at-home troubles, you can check my blog 4 Tips To Learn Before Working from Home.
If you are looking for tools to work from home in a more efficient way, check Working Remotely Tools website, there are plenty of interesting tools that can support you regardless of your budget. You can also schedule a consultancy session with me, or contact Socialprise agency.
Stay safe!
