Before I joined Facebook, I was running my own business and worked from home for about a year to spare us from leasing an expensive Bay Area co-working space.
I know — everyone is WFH right now with California under shut down and you might have encountered several WFH guides and resources. But this one is more biographical, and practical in response to the problems that I experienced working from home for about a year. Here’s what I learned —
Reconditioning your mind and body for an abundance of time
Having been a workaholic all my life, I have a bad habit of overfilling my calendar. Reflecting on my everyday schedule when I was going to a physical office, my time was roughly divided into —
- Prep time: Includes getting dressed, commuting, grabbing coffee/breakfast
- Meetings, meetings and meetings
- Actually focused work
- Misc breaks: Includes meal time, water-cooler talks, appointments, random internet browsing/learning
After I quit my job, I had abundance of time on my hands. Those uninterrupted hours, all the real problems I ever wanted to solve, all the books, movies and shows I always wanted to watch, all the things I ever wanted to learn — finally I would be able to accomplish all of that! But after a few days the reality started to look like —
I realized that time as I valued before, now started losing its meaning. My productivity started to hurt. My biggest enemies had become PROCRASTINATION, LAZINESS and LACK OF FOCUS.
Our work schedules are filled with trivial tasks that unconsciously take up hours in our day and with some of those trivial tasks like commuting, getting dressed not in our schedule now — we have to find alternate tasks to consciously engage ourselves and fight these enemies.
Ways to recondition your mind
- Make a list of things to do. Start with today. Fill your calendar with these activities. Then make yourself accountable. Share it with friends and hold each other accountable.
- It is very easy to get distracted when you are stuck on a problem. Catch yourself in these moments and time-box. Force yourself to work on something else and come back to the problem you are stuck on at a later time.
- Set hard deadlines for screen time (whether you are browsing news, youtube videos, watching netflix or scrolling through social media).
- Start journalling. Reflect on what you learnt and what you could’ve done better.
Ways to recondition your body
- Your well-being has to be your number#1 priority. When I was working on my own business I de-prioritized some activities like drinking water regularly, eating on time, getting exercise, dancing and that hit me very hard. Obviously, if you feel lethargic, you tend to sleep and when you are sleeping more, you tend to eat less. This cycle is far more dangerous than it seems so keep your body active and moving even when you are home.
- Keep your hygiene at check. Even when you are not going to work — try to get a shower every day, do your laundry on time and keep your environment clean and healthy
- Do not over-stimulate your body. Take a break even if your body does not demand it. I found myself listening to music, cooking, dancing in my room and taking hot showers to help de-stress.
At the end of the day, productivity is self-defined. The feeling of getting shit done vs feeling like time just passing with no major milestones being hit.
It is also an uncontrollable behavior. You could fill up your schedule with a bunch of activities with a lack of complete focus and just keep doing things with no vision. Or you could fill with only things that are most meaningful to move you towards your life goals — whether it is career, health or financial goals.
During these challenging times, when thinking about the future feels like a stretch and when being motivated to do your regular day-to-day activities feels like a chore and when every day looks the same; no human contact can deplete your oxytocin levels; even if you have a roommate, staying in the same environment and an idle mind can just cause a lot of arguments.
Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. Keep re-arranging your home, try reading new e-books, experiment and surprise yourself! Most importantly, do not take time for granted.
