As soon as I got my first full-time job, I knew that the office life wasn’t for me. I remember coming home every single day and crying at the prospect of living that life for the next, who knows, 40 odd years.
It was the late 90’s and all I could hear was Björk echoing endlessly in my head singing: ‘There’s more to life than this’. So after a couple of years, I managed to quit my full-time job, land my first freelance job (pre-social media times!) and there was no stopping me then.
But I soon left home to Australia and adulting in a foreign country meant that I was back in the rat race for good. It was only very recently that I quit my full-time job to become a freelancer again but so much has changed since the first time around!
So I’ve been testing different things which I’m going to be sharing with you today in this beginners working from home checklist. Freedom feels pretty good but, unless you’re doing the way it works for you, you won’t be able to meet your deadlines, pay your bills and have the work-life balance you deserve.
So let’s start!
Set up a Dedicated Workspace
You might not have the most comfortable workspace but it’ll help you immensely if you do. If you’ve just started working from home, your brain will get confused as it’s used to seeing home as a place for winding down and chilling out.
So try your best in getting your desk set up in a peaceful corner and have everything that you need at hand to help avoid having to interrupt your workflow to go get a pen or a glass of water.
Plan for the Day Ahead
Having a daily checklist helps you to be on top of your priorities and adjust more easily when needed. Being the crazy list lady that I am, they’re an important part of my routine as I feel much more equipped to deal with things that life sends my way when I know what needs to be done in the first place.
Writing things down also helps me stay more mindful and save my brain power for more important things in life than trying to remember my to-do-list. I usually prepare a daily task list in advance, before going to bed or first thing in the morning, with up to 5 items max and I keep it somewhere visible, at my bedside and/or near my laptop, so I don’t forget to check it regularly.
Set Alarms and Reminders
If you’re a non-early riser like me and new to working from home, getting out of bed in the morning might become your number one challenge. There’s no better feeling than staying longer in bed just because you can but, a comfortable bed can suck you right in and mess your plans for the day right from the start. ‘Your body will get used to it’ they say. Well, not true.
I’m sure there’s plenty of techniques to help you become a morning person but I’ve never come across any that really worked for me so, as much as I hate waking up to an alarm, that’s the only thing that helps me wake up roughly at the same time everyday.
Btw, alarms and reminders will become your besties especially if you’re not great at time keeping. Schedule anything and everything on your calendar so you don’t miss out on important deadlines, tasks and meetings, especially if you’re working with people in different time zones.
Create a Routine
I know what it’s running through your head right now: routine is boring. Yes, I know and I used to think that once too but there’s no denying that having a routine is extremely valuable. If you roughly structure your days around the essential things in life, such as eating and sleeping, you’ll help your body regulate itself and your brain to feel more in control in face of the uncertainty of (freelancing) life.
There are studies that show that decision-making power is a depletable resource so by avoiding having to think when to have lunch every day, you can give decision fatigue a miss. Plus it’ll be easier for you to start cultivating good habits around your routine such as exercising and self-care that can positively impact your physical and mental wellbeing too.
Important Things First
Yoga and meditation have been an important part of my life for the past decade, so for the sake of my physical and mental health (and my bf’s), I need to make sure these are included in my daily routine. Because I’m a freelancer and I don’t have a fixed schedule, I’ve noticed that it was quite easy to just reach out for my laptop first thing in the morning, especially when deadlines creep up. Throw some chores in the mix and another day would easily go by without yoga, meditation or any form of exercise.
So I realised that if I wanted to get my daily intake of sanity, I’d have to make time for it first thing in the morning before starting whatever else was planned for the day ahead. If I’m fortunate enough to have that kind of flexibility, why not make that work in my favour? This applies to absolutely anything, work-related or not, so make sure your non-negotiables get priority place in your queue.
Take a Break
Everybody has that colleague at work who takes so many breaks that makes you wonder how the hell they get any work done, right? Well, it turns out they’re onto something. Studies tell us that the average attention span of an adult can range between 20-40 minutes so any time spent in front of your screen after that can be counterproductive.
Ever heard of the Pomodoro technique? It’s a timer that breaks work down in 25-minute chunks and alternates them with different interval lengths. I’ve been using it for a while now and find it quite effective. Being a woman of extremes, with huge procrastinating tendencies permeated by hyperfocus attention moments in between, I find it extremely hard to stop whatever I’m doing once I’m on a roll.
But, because I need to maintain a high level of accuracy at work, I really need some time away from the screen every once in a while. And you can kill two birds with one stone by combining your intervals with doing chores, exercising or meditating if you want.
Create a Work Playlist
Being able to listen to music during working hours is a big middle finger to all of the boring corporate places I’ve worked at where the only allowed sounds were the clacking of a keyboard or noisy ringtones. Although I do need a bit of peace and quiet when I’m working on a translation or proofreading project, I’m so glad I get to listen to music whenever I want.
Music won’t only turn work into a much more fun experience, but it’ll also put you in a better frame of mind if you pick the right style depending on the task you’re performing.
Work When You’re Most Productive
If you have the luxury of choosing your own working hours, you should try and experiment with spreading your work around the times of the day when you feel most productive. We’re so used to the 9-to-5 structure that, when we transition to home working, we end up reproducing the same routine we had in the office.
Working within your own energy cycles will help you perform more efficiently as you’re at your best mental state, instead of trying to stay awake after having a massive bowl of pasta for lunch and not getting anything done.
Procrastinate the Right Way
It doesn’t take much more than a notification alert to flash, for us, procrastinators or not, to get lured into the rabbit hole of the interwebs. Needless to say that leaving your phone as far away as possible from your desk is the best strategy, allowing yourself to check it only at designated times throughout the day. Why waste your willpower when you can remove the distraction completely?
In case this isn’t possible, then disable any unnecessary notifications to stop you from getting distracted at every other minute.
On your computer, leave open only the documents and browser tabs that are relevant to any of the tasks that need completing. So when the desire to procrastinate takes over, you can productively procrastinate by switching between important tasks that actually need doing rather than googling photos of surfing dogs.
Make Agreements with the People You Live With
The concept of working from home can be tricky for some people to grasp because, for a long time, work has only been associated with a separate environment to the one you live in, so they just need a bit of getting used to the idea. Instead of getting upset at your flatmate because he crashed your conference call in his undies even after you told him you’d be working, it’s time to sit down and establish clear boundaries that will help everyone involved.
After that, reinforce the ground rules that you’ve agreed on by using some visual reminders like hanging a flag on your door, for example, so they’ll know when you’re in working mode and won’t appreciate being interrupted.
Dress Up
Getting ready for your working day as if you were going to the office is super important as it gives your brain that sense of separation between your home and work life. So why the hell is this last on my list? For the simple fact that I’d be a hypocrite if I bragged about how you should get up and ready in the morning when I don’t do this myself.
Even when I used to work in an office, I would’ve rolled out of bed and gone in my PJs if I could. On top of having a capsule wardrobe, I prioritise the comfort of PJ bottoms and any extra minutes in bed over dressing up any day. Saying that, I do follow a skincare routine and have breakfast which already gives me this feeling of the start of a working day so I guess you don’t necessarily have to get super dressy to reap the same benefits. Try this and see what makes a difference for you in terms of wellbeing and productivity.
Finish Off on Time
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of working extended hours when you’re at home because, with less interruptions, the little workaholic in you will cruise through work without noticing when it’s time to clock out.
The boundaries between work and home have been blurred and your workmates that are out of the door a minute before the end of their shift won’t be there to remind you that it’s, er, home time. So set visual reminders to give your brain a nudge telling you when it’s time to stop and switch off.
So this is it! I really hope that my beginners working from home checklist was the game-changer you’ve been looking for to make working from home more enjoyable. And don’t forget to share with us in the comments what are the tips that have made a difference in your WFH journey too!
