How Remote Employees Work Lifehacker
While all of us at Lifehacker are thrilled with Work From Home Week, for the four of us it really is home (ha). Here’s a look at jobs and routines from Claire, Michelle, Patrick and me.
Claire Lower, Food and Beverage Editor (Portland, Oregon)
I usually wake up around 9am and take my laptop to bed to check Slack and my email. Convinced that nothing urgent needs my attention, I put on my shoes and walk the dog very quickly, then make coffee and move to the couch, where I write my first article of the day. (Sometimes I have to cook something in the morning, but this rarely happens.) When I write the first, I either write the next (if it should be soon), edit the freelance article, or take a shower and eat something.
Once everything that is planned for that day is written, I prepare any food or cocktail that I need to prepare for the stories the next day. This usually involves going to the grocery store, sometimes more than once because I forget something. I try to cook and photograph all the food before the sun goes down, which gets easier as we get closer to spring. When I have the photos and recipes that I need for the next post, I either write them down or go to the gym for a bit and then write them down when I get back.
The only difference is Thursday nights when I’m working on my casseroles or sous-video projects. Usually a friend comes to me to help me eat whatever I cook. If I have a lot of very cheesy casserole left, I take it to my ex-boyfriend (who works right on the street) because my current boyfriend is lactose intolerant and I don’t want him to eat it in his sleep (sleep eating is crazy. my friends).
Staff Writer Patrick Allan (Pasadena, California)
My daily routine is pretty simple. I wake up around 7:00 am, drink a large glass of water while brewing coffee, check my work for a couple of minutes, and then walk the dog. After that, I make a quick breakfast (usually oatmeal and an egg), work all morning, then take lunch around 13:00. The rest of the day I work and shower after training and before going out to see people in the evening.
I always have several notepads on my desk, usually in different colors. I use them for everything: taking notes, creating to-do lists, marking pages in books, etc. Plus, Spotify is open almost all day. I either listen to music through surround speakers or I listen through noise canceling headphones. Notable items on my desk include a Velociraptor mug in which I keep all my pens, a real bone cup in which I store various small office supplies and whatnot, a digital voice recorder for quick voice memos / call recording, both pairs of my blue blocking glasses (nerd warning), a copy of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, some Super Mario gachapon toys I bought in Japan, and a Nendoroid Mei figure from Overwatch .
Parenting Editor Michelle Wu (Los Angeles, California)
I live on the west coast, but on the days when my husband drives our daughter to school, I work on the east coast with my colleagues from New York. Usually we are allowed to set our own hours of operation, but when it’s noon in New York and I just got to my computer, I feel like I’m playing catch-up. When I start earlier, I feel better. And that gives me a little more time in the late afternoon to hang out with my baby.
I am using Post-Its to create a large scale Trello style board. There is one story / project per sticker. It gives me an idea of my week and I can easily rearrange stories and projects as needed. However, I found that a tactile weekly calendar was not enough, so I will add a large monthly calendar to show me three months ahead.
I mostly work at my desk in my home office, but from time to time I enjoy moving around the house. I am working at my kitchen table right now. Sometimes a new environment gives me a new mood.
My favorite workspace at home is Lovesac , a massive beanbag chair. I already mentioned that I love writing drafts in a room without distractions. After collecting my research, I flop down with my notebook and start writing.
Health Editor Beth Scarecki (Pittsburgh, PA)
Every morning at 7 am I get out of bed and curl up half asleep on the couch before my kids wake up to write a few morning pages. Then I cook them, send them to kindergarten and sit in my office almost all day. I try to make my office a pleasant place to live and in fact I criticized this attic before we started distributing bedrooms because I love sloped ceilings and wood paneling. When you enjoy your surroundings, it really helps your mood. My office is a mess (I cleaned up before taking the photo), but I made a promise to myself that when I’m done sorting out all the rubbish accumulated over the years, I could install built-in bookshelves along one of them. the whole wall. This is how it is .
I always have a notebook in my right hand that I use for to-do lists, interview notes, brainstorming sessions, and more. I usually have Diet Coke on my table and sometimes coffee or seltzer water. I store useful information on the wall in front of me. Most of the time I use the Health News Review checklist for research article writing best practices and the cheat sheet for all caps headings. I also have a nicely formatted copy of Roy Peter Clark’s Quick 50 Writing Tools .
I try to get up a couple of times a day for a snack or something, and strive for at least one important exit: maybe to the gym, or to the sandwich shop, or just do some errand that takes me away from home. … When my husband comes home with the kids at the end of the day, I hear them downstairs and know it’s time to end.