REALISTIC WORK FROM
TIPS DURING A PANDEM
MOST OF THOSE WORK
FROM HOME TIPS AREN’T
APPLICABLE TO YOU IF YOU
DON’T REGULARLY WORK
YOUR JOB FROM HOME
T
here are two types of work from home people right
now: the ones who work from home regularly and
the ones who are having to do it out of emergency
necessity. Those who work from home regularly
will give you advice like this (and I can say that because in a
quick Google search, these all came up as “surefire tips”):
• Have a routine so your day is structured, and you can
be productive, and you know when you are and are not
working
• Remember to stop for lunch around the same time each
day so you can train your body when it’s time to take a
break
• Take your breaks in their entirety and don’t think about
the work you need to do, professional or home
• Stay positive no matter what – embrace that exclamation
mark!
• Put on actual clothes so that your brain is in the right
mindset
• Set up a designated workspace and don’t let it get cluttered
with anything else
• If you have kids at home, use a sign to tell them when they
Anyone out there who is not a regular work from home
person but has had to do it the last month because of this
nationwide emergency is probably laughing right now,
especially at that last one if they have kids.
Most of those work from home tips aren’t applicable to you
if you don’t regularly work your job from home. If you live in
a home with other people, good luck being able to carve out a
designated workspace. Some days it’s going to be your table,
other days someone will have put something on the table that is
sticky and you don’t know what it is and you don’t really want
to touch it… so you get to work on the couch. I know someone
who does all her Zoom calls from her bathroom because it’s the
can and cannot bother you, or close your door when you’re only place where she can go for 20 minutes and not be bothered
needing to focus every 30 seconds. When we daydreamed of working from home,
most of our dreams did not involve our spouse or children. Work
14 | TRENDS MAY 2020
www.aamdhq.org