With the coronavirus in full-swing, I thought it’d be helpful to share what I’m doing to help prevent the spread. Specifically, what are my productive tips for working from home? How am I making sure I’m still efficient when I’m not at my office or on the road?
There are 2 points to make before diving into my recommendations. One, my office is currently closed so I’m working from home. Two, I worked remotely for several years. In this post, the goal is to provide you with ideas on how to be efficient and effective if you’re working from home like me.
Productive Tips for Working from Home
1) Set a Daily Schedule
The way that I’m able to get things done when working from home during the coronavirus is to set a line-by-line schedule. I picked this idea up from Cal Newport’s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
Here’s how it works. On a piece of paper with horizontal lines, draw lines from left to right and use the line spaces as 30-minute time blocks. Write down the hour on the far left-hand side of the page. In the spaces, write down the tasks that you need to accomplish. If a task will take more than 30 minutes, write it down in the space below the one you filled out.
Taking the Cal Newport structure one step further is a page I’ve taken from Jocko Willinck’s podcast. The night before the next day (I do this the morning of), write down the most important tasks you need to accomplish. Prioritize these tasks based upon which ones you need to accomplish first.
Another way to think about this is from Gary Keller’s interview on Tim Ferriss’ podcast. Gary recommends that you ask yourself, what’s the most important thing that you can do such that everything else will become easier or unnecessary.
2) Exercise Regularly
Exercise is a part of my weekly routine. My goal is to work out at least 5 times per week. 4 of the workouts are weight training and 1 workout is either cardio or yoga. This structure has worked well for me because I can stick to it.
I work with Mike Vacanti, a trainer in New York. Every month, Mike sends me a workout. The workout is broken into 4 days with 4-8 exercises per workout. I’ve found that paying someone will commit me to complete the workouts because I’m financially motivated.
To adapt to the coronavirus, I’ve modified my workouts by using our at-home weight set and yoga mats. I also go on walks throughout the day. The combination of the at-home workouts and walks has worked well.
Building on my morning workouts is a page I’ve taken from Chase Jarvis. He gets up from his desk every 90 minutes. During this time, he takes care of non-essential tasks like phone calls, bathroom breaks, and grabbing a snack.
3) Cook Excess Food for Leftovers
While working from home, I eat leftovers. This cuts down on the amount of time I have to spend cooking during the day. By reducing my meal prep time, I can get my work completed earlier in the day.
While I do enjoy cooking and it’s a nice way to relax at the end of the day, I would rather batch that task. By cooking in bulk, I always have food on hand for the next day.
4) Get Dressed for the Day
It might be tempting to stay in your loungewear all day, but from my years of working from home, I’m more productive when I get dressed for work. By getting dressed, I’m mentally prepared to “go into the office.”
The Essential Man’s post provides his getting dressed for work strategy. I like his idea of flipping the switch to “work mode” by putting on work clothes.
5) Have Items Delivered
When Ashlee and I lived in DC, grocery delivery was part of our weekly routine. Neither one of us had a car, so going to the grocery store and bringing groceries home were tasks we did not enjoy. Enter grocery delivery.
I like buying back my time whenever possible. By not having to run errands during the workday, like going to the grocery store, I can instead continue working. This is especially helpful during the coronavirus when we should be practicing social distancing.
We have used Instacart and love it! You can also use Task Rabit or your local grocery store may provide delivery service. We are be using one of these services until the coronavirus starts to subside. Upon receipt of the groceries, we wipe down the items with disinfectant.
Travel Articles Related to the Coronavirus
Travel bloggers that I follow have offered their take on the coronavirus. I regularly read God Save the Points, Frequent Miler, and One Mile At A Time articles. The articles below shed light on how these individuals and teams are thinking about this issue.
God Save the Points has 2 articles HERE and HERE. Check out Frequent Miler’s take of the situation HERE. One Mile At A Time offers essential travel information HERE. Richard Kerr’s piece HERE shares his perspective on the coronavirus and travel.
Non-travel Articles Related to the Coronavirus
Peter Attia has been my source for up-to-date coronavirus information. You can check out his site HERE, podcast HERE, and Instagram account HERE. Attia offers information that you may not want to hear but need to hear.
Ramit Sethi’s newsletter highlighted articles that I found informative. Here’s how he teased each article:
- Elderly people are dying in nursing homes. In one nursing home, they finally tested 35 residents — and 31 came back positive.
- This president tries to calm people by using the magical phrase “tax cuts” and “the wall.”
- The coronavirus fatality rate in China for those over 80 is an estimated 21.9 percent, per the WHO.
- I thought, “Hey, I’m young and healthy. It wouldn’t be so bad for me.” This 48-year-old had coronavirus and says, “I was one inch from death.”
Conclusion on the Best Productive Tips for Working from Home
These productive tips for working from home have helped me in the early days of the coronavirus. I’ve worked from home for a number of years so hopefully, these tips will help you too. The most important of these tips to me is sticking to a schedule.
