How to Behave in the Morning When You Work From Home
If you’re new to working from home, you can default to what many of us do the first time we no longer need to get to the office: stay in bed until the last moment and then spend the rest of the day doing remote work in pajamas. …
And I really mean “the rest of the day”; work expands to fill the allotted time, as they say, and it’s too easy to do a little work, get distracted by something else, do a little more work, realize you haven’t eaten anything yet, try to work again, but spend most of your time in social media, finally decide to take a shower, tell yourself you’re going to put on some fresh clothes, but decide it’s too late to wear anything other than pajamas, and then spend the last few hours before bed forcing yourself to do all the work you did not complete during the theoretical “working day”.
This means you need a morning routine, and it’s worth noting that this routine does not have to be done during your typical morning hours. If your natural chronotype wants to get a little behind what it would be if you had to set an alarm, go ahead and allow yourself to sleep until you wake up naturally. (Yes, you will have to reset your circadian rhythm as soon as you start going to the office again, but sleep is so important to both personal and public health that I prefer to turn off the alarm and let your body get the sleep it needs.)
After you wake up, there is a plan of action already planned. In other words: know what you are going to do and in what order you are going to do it.
Maybe it means “use the toilet, brush your teeth, have a cup of coffee, walk the dog, take a shower, get dressed, pour a bowl of cereal, open your laptop and start processing email.”
Maybe it means “helping kids get breakfast, have a cup of coffee, set up kids for distance learning, do a 10-minute yoga program on YouTube, take a shower, get dressed, check kids with suggestions, grab a laptop with a couch.” on the other side of the room and sign in to Slack. “
Work and family responsibilities will help you decide on a new morning routine; maybe you need to be ready for a daily videoconference, say at 10 am, or maybe your kids naturally wake up around 6. But if you don’t have this morning routine, you won’t be ready by your 10 o’clock. I’m a conference – or something else that might throw you a day.
Because for many of us, how we spend our morning is how we spend our days. So add a little structure to these atypical, structureless mornings and it could very well improve your mental health, family harmony and, of course, your workflow.
And remember: the earlier you start your working day, the faster you get your job done. When you work from home, you can stop working as soon as the work is done, so take advantage of this privilege while you can.