I have gathered tons of tips for working remotely. First, for clients that have employees that work on the road or from home mostly and then as more and more clients were moving to tele-commuting as a response to COVID-19.

I will give my tips at the end – feel free to scroll down if you need them now.

What I am noticing is that a lot and I mean A LOT of tips are coming out so I thought I would do something different and share with you a typical day of working from home from my perspective. For those of you that are new to this, it may sound romantic, and some days it is amazing. For those of you that work from home all the time, you probably have tips for me. This is today thus far…

My alarm was set to go off at 7am. My partners alarm started to go off at 6am. I got up around 6:45am and turned my alarm off and went to the kitchen to make coffee, let the dogs out to pee, and make lunch for my husband. Last night before going to bed I decided that I would work on a big project today all day – I call this “going in a hole” so that I am not distracted by anything.

While he showered, I went on a dog walk. Somehow it is 8:30 all of the sudden as he heads out the door. Others have gone to the gym, changed clothes, put on “work clothes” and settle into their home desk spaces by this time. I, however, have been protected from the evil lawn crew next door for about an hour -imagine this fierce dedication that can only be expressed by three very large loud dogs on constant watch. Since I know I won’t be able to write, I pull somethings out of the freezer for dinner tonight, and start a load of laundry. A doctor’s office calls to try and change an appointment time. I get an appointment for the car to be checked out. I try to leave a message for my husband between his meetings on campus. I listen to the news and sit down at my computer to crank out a blog post about the thoughts I had on the dog walk and get that sent off to my assistant, Dede, for proofing and posting, and try to call her on the phone to check in about a few other things. The lawn guys have moved from the back yard to the front yard next door – it is still not safe to work. I know the postman is inbound any minute. I check email, Slack, Facebook, social media, follow up on a few items I purchased by tracking the packages, and adjust my Alexa from Volume 1 and 2 as the dogs sleep or bark. I make some notes for an upcoming webinar I am doing for other speakers on how to do interactive and engaging webinars while sitting in the living room covered in dogs to try to keep them quiet and prevent getting a headache. Somewhere in the last three hours, yes it is now 11:41, I have had 2 soy chais, aka momma’s go juice, and started this newsletter. Notice, I haven’t showered, changed clothes, brushed my teeth, added to my bullet journal, or updated my to do list and why should I? I only have one thing on my to do list – to finish that one project I haven’t touched yet. And I am actually considered highly productive and tech savvy by some of my friends!

Perhaps with this perspective – these tips will make more sense and seem less romantic and more manic in nature.

1. GO OUTSIDE – when I work from home – there is little to no reason to go outside. This holds true when I am in a hotel too. Get up. Walk outside. Take a dog. Walk to a coffee shop. Walk around the block. Eat a sandwich. Run an errand. Breathe air. This also means you may have to change clothes, look in a mirror, do something with the zit on your nose or your hair or – BIG DAY – both.

2. GO TO A DIFFERENT ROOM – having my office on the other side of a wall from my bedroom, the back yard, the living room, etc., use these spaces – mix it up. I often have friend calls while in the hot tub, watch videos or webinars from my living room. Use the full space.

3. DOWNTIME – When you make a schedule or routine (this could be everyday or just today or hopefully tomorrow) include down time. Just because you can work doesn’t mean you should always work. Think about your back! Make a plan and stick to it. I tend to lose it by the afternoon, so that is my errand, appointment, meet up, friend time. The wee early hours in my mornings is typically my thinking and writing time. Somewhere in between is dictated by last night’s hopes and dreams and the impulse control I have set up for `online scheduler. I blocked weekends, 20 minutes between online appointments, and chunks of time so that I can attempt to work on projects. Deadlines are just as important as reading club and my sewing lessons.

4. PEOPLE TIME – I am an extrovert and need people time. I feel sorry for the clerk at a store or the waitress at the hotel restaurant because they often are the only living in person souls I have interacted with that day. In person contact is important for my sanity. Being surrounded by protective and loud dogs isn’t healthy for me all of the time. When the dogs bark and I get excited that the UPS delivery driver is in my drive way it should be for the package not for the human contact – that isn’t fair to anyone.

5. KEEP TRACK OF TIME – House chores, errands, little projects, etc., can suck your time away just as much as work projects. Try to have a start and end time to your work day. Eat food or snacks like you would if you were in an office with co-workers. Keep in mind that folks you may be collaborating with work within work hours in their time zone. It is easy to lose track of the rest of the world day after day after day. It is also easy to forget what day of the week it is – others may not work on weekends and you probably can get a haircut on a Monday.

6. THINK ABOUT YOUR COMMUTE – Yes even when you work from a home office – you need the mental shift time to get to work and for reentry into home mode. To help me not get divorced, I try really hard to keep a similar mental schedule as my partner so that I am done with work by the time he comes home. Also, for me, him coming home – doesn’t mean I get to fire hose him because I haven’t had human contact. (See #4) This is also important because it is easy to think you will always “just do this one thing” but interrupt a Netflix binge to get back into work mode is often hard. Just like I have also been in weekend mode and mid-conversation upon entering the house have “vanished” into my email or something. My marriage counseling experiences have pointed out that this is rude. :/ Your commute is a buffer for you, your co-workers, and your friends and family.

7. #FUNFACT – Speaking of marriage counseling, recommended your partner and/or friends use your online scheduler to block time for you to have a date, or something person, may not go over well. Yes, it is efficient, but efficiency isn’t the only value. I just saved you a co-pay. You are welcome.

8. Set up auto-reminders to check in with your co-workers, managers, supervisors, clients, friends, and family. Maybe don’t tell them you have a google reminder or have asked Alexa to remind you to tell someone you love them… leave that part out, but part of the time warp that can happen while working remotely is that other’s can’t see what you do, and you can’t see what they do. Regular check-ins are important. I use legal pads and folders to keep track of everyone I work with and I rotate through the stacks every week. It is very hard for me to schedule a standing appointment, but I can try to make contact, show and ask for a sign of life, for those that need it and want it. Sharing to-do lists, schedules, accomplishments, goals, etc., is important so that you keep track of your own progress, don’t keep others waiting unknowningly, etc., I meet up with all of my contractors at least once a month, even if we aren’t working on a current project just to check in. This also helps me with #4. This also helps me not only get guidance and advice for a dog or three. They tend to think every idea is GREAT and that gets expensive.

9. OFFICE SUPPLIES & SERVICES – Be mindful, that you don’t have (maybe) an IT department or a supply closet. This has been the slowest lesson for me. Currently, my old and new laptops are backed up with Carbonite and I am expecting a new external hard drive to arrive today (imagine the barking and forced conversation coming from me as that might be my only human contact today) so that I can get Time Machine up and running again. I have had to learn how to do all of this or ask for help. The latter was hard, but not as hard as becoming a techy. Printer paper, ink, post-its, the right markers, staples, paperclips, notepads, folders, big and little envelopes, and more are now well stocked in my office. I am possessively strange about these office supplies, their inventory, and location, because I have run out one too many times when in a pinch and I can’t let that happen again. I also have a hoard of snacks, stamps, Kleenex, lights, web cameras, microphones, and thumb drives.

10. Décor, Music, & Atmosphere – Lastly, but not to be shrugged off… I have a ridiculously expensive office chair, additional monitors set up at eye level, a space heater and a small fan, as well as an electric blanket, and foot stool and back cushion. My desk is covered with little things that make me happy and inspire my creativity and literally is coated in HOT PINK to help with webinar or video conference call coloring. I have Bluetooth mics, headphones, mouse, and keyboard as well as a color printer that prints double sided and is also a scanner and even has fax capabilities. I have an ethernet connection just in case and a router booster. The decorations and atmosphere are imperative to you being able to focus and creative. This applies to playlists, music, and audio choices as well. I can only write with music on, but I can’t know the words, or I sing along which seems less acceptable in coffeeshops or public spaces. There are artists that my dogs dislike and it makes them bark or agitated. Listening to MSNBC 24/7 isn’t always a good idea for me either. I have playlists for different kinds of work.

Bonus Round – I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t give you a little extra, would I? When thinking about my client’s that are asking their employees that typically work in an office to work remotely, I would like to give you a few recommendations or at least items to think about ASAP.

#1 – When DEI folks talk about your workplace culture, we are talking about your internal ability to have challenging conversations. Once everyone is remote, there will be less communication, or at least folks will feel like there is less communication. If your workplace culture hasn’t had a solid history of challenging conversations spaces, then remote folks will continue their practice of writing stories in their own minds about what is going on except even more than usual. These stories are written so that they individually feel safe and prepared. This will need to be taken into consideration. Now isn’t the time to attempt to fix the culture, but to notice what will need attention when this crisis has passed before the next one.

#2 – Pretty much anyone with a boss will feel like there is a lack of transparency in some corner of the workplace. This is how power works. You are starting at a deficit and will need to “overshare” before people ask for information, they may need to do their work. As remote employees grow in number and spread out in distance, take intentional initiatives to share, review, collaborate, and share again so that folks can feel connected and part of a proactive team instead of a reactionary, limited, resource hoarding organization. Communication will need to be dramatically increased both 1:1 and within teams to aid with connection while it could also be perceived as micro-management. Like money, distance will showcase who you as a leader really are and what really happens out there during work.

#3 – Speaking of resource hoarding, working remotely can allow space (literally) for folks to feel forgotten and out of touch while also easing the access to others that may have been on different floors or offices. Suddenly, being left off an email feels like being forgotten and sending a slack notification to your boss’s boss’s boss is just as easy. This is also a great time to be reflective of the physical spaces, organizational style, and actual structures and how this has blocked employees from navigating a realistic and/or perceived hierarchy within an organization. I once worked with an organization where the leadership believed they worked in a flat hierarchy/power dynamic. I had to point out to them that even though the office was an open floor plan, only certain people had half walls, full walls, doors, windows, chairs that move, and/or a chair for a visitor. These distinctions clearly showcased a power dynamic that aligned with the organizational chart and therefore the power dynamics of reporting structures. With everyone working remotely – this will be worse and worse.