Self-isolation Tips & Tricks for Being/Working From Home

What do I know about working from home?

I have been working from my home studio since I became a freelance illustrator about five years ago. And I have been practicing what’s know known as self-isolation since my car was written off about five months ago. I typically spend four out of seven days of the week at home and in my studio. So you know, I have some experience.

Who is this post for:

Anyone who’s spending more time at home than they’re used to
Anyone who all of a sudden finds themselves having to work from home
Anyone currently in self-isolation/quarantine, thanks to that virus
Someone who has been freelancing for ages but still hasn’t quite worked it out, or just wanting some new tips and tricks
Those who turn into their sloth version of themselves when at home, and need some guidance on un-slothing

It has taken me a really long time to actually be able to follow a routine. My whole life I’ve been a busy, spontaneous person who does one million and one things in one day. I still am that person, however these days, I spend most of my time at home or in my studio and it’s something I am enjoying more and more as time goes on.

The first year of freelancing/working from home (WFH) was by far the most difficult. I was not prepared for it and had no idea what I should and shouldn’t do. My friends knew I was WFH and they’d text me asking me to go out for coffees, for lunch, to the movies, to the gallery, etc. And not wanting to miss out I’d say yes, and literally the whole day would be written off. Even though you can work at any time, the last thing you want to do after getting home late from a fun day is sit down and work. Obviously now that we’re all staying at home this isn’t an issue, however, it is just as easy to keep postponing work until later in the day, which is basically the same thing, and not a good idea.

Not knowing how to manage myself and also realising that when I’m super busy, stressed or distracted, the last thing I think about is myself. Which is why after the first year of freelancing I had stopped going to the gym and had put on a bunch of weight that I'm still trying to lose. I became super unmotivated and unproductive. I was working all the time and there was no definition between anything in my life. Even with all this time I was still missing out on events and birthdays because I hadn’t prioritised my time and had to stay in to meet deadlines.

At the worst of it all I was basically going to sleep at 4 am and waking up at 1pm. All these things happen gradually and by the time you realise you’re like holy moly, what the hell. So since then I’ve been actively learning, researching and testing different techniques that actually work, and make life more balanced, enjoyable and for the most part, stress free.

Hopefully for most of you, this working from home thing is only temporary, but I think these tips and routines will be helpful even after you go back to life as normal.

KEEP THE MIND and BODY HEALTHY and HAPPY

I have put this at the top because it is the most important part of this whole thing. You need to practice taking care of your mind and body, this is a non-negotiable, especially when you’re WFH or in self-isolation.

Meditation
Exercise
Fresh Air
Connect

MEDITATION
The first thing you need to begin doing is meditation. Whether you are aware of it or not, your whole life plays out in the context of your thoughts. The whole goal with meditation is to be able to pay attention to those thoughts and to be aware of what’s actually going on in your mind. Meditation helps you become aware and this makes it easier for you to come back to your true self. It will help you keep coming back to your purpose and what you actually want to do. And you’ll be able to catch yourself when you start to dwell in the negative, unhealthy, pretty shitty thoughts. These thoughts are what I call ‘bad brain’. They’ve built up over years, lots of little thoughts, behaviours, past experiences, that have built up as this thing, that is always trying to let you off the hook. Like say, at the end of the day, you finish work and you’re like, ‘I’m going to get home, wash my face, have a shower, put a mask on, do my nails etc. etc. whatever.’ Then as soon as you get home, bad brain kicks in and it’s like ‘meh,’ and you end up in bed or on the couch watching Netflix or Youtube until you fall asleep.

Meditation helps you identify when bad brain is taking over and your true self steps in and says to bad brain, ‘No, these are the things I want to do for myself, I have the time to do them and I want to do them for myself.’ Bad brain has no choice but to step aside, it knows better than to argue with you. Then you do the things, and you feel great, and bad brain will slowly be re-trained and this will start to become your new norm. Bad brain (there’s a more scientific explanation for this, but bad brain works for me) turns up every time you’re thinking about doing anything. Anytime you're avoiding doing something, bad brain will tell you it’s ok to not do it, or it will try reason with you and make a case for doing the thing your avoiding at a later time. By meditating you can actually pay attention to this happening, and you can at least have the ability to say, ‘No, i’m doing this first and then when I’m done I’ll…blah blah blah, fill in the blanks.’

This will all make sense once you start to make mediation a priority and a daily practice. Over the years I’ve tried to meditate on and off. But in February this year I decided to give it a good shot, and realised the only way to not forget or run out of time for it was to start doing it first thing in the morning. I wake up, go to the bathroom, wash my face and then sit down and do a meditation. You want to do at least a ten minute meditation. I also like to meditate before I start working. It’s a nice transition from my own time, to the time when I actually need to get things done. It basically gets bad brain in check, and I find I procrastinate less. Sometimes, things happen during the day, it’s usually other people that can throw you off. Someone might upset you, or put their shit onto you, or who knows, but if you find your mood changing from normal to anxious/stress/anger/sadness, this is your cue to take ten minutes for yourself to meditate. At first it will seem silly, but after you do it, you will be noticeably calmer, and your reaction, or non-reaction will be much better than if you’d acted before meditating.

When to meditate: First thing in the morning and as often as necessary
Start with: 10 mins every day
How: Guided meditation apps. My favourite is Waking Up by Sam Harris
Meditation App: Waking Up with Sam Harris
Free Meditation on YouTube: Tara Brach

EXERCISE:
Very important. The thing you don’t realise because you're busy adjusting from normal life to WFH life, is you’re not moving. You're no longer hurrying about to be out the door in time, to catch the train in time, to get a coffee in time to make it to work on time. You’re not walking two minutes, three times a day to go to the bathrooms. You’re not going out of the building to look for lunch, or to find a spot to sit at to have your lunch. You’re not going out for drinks after work etc. etc. You’re spending the majority of your time, if not all your time in the one space.

For me, I basically have three steps to get from my bedroom to my studio, three steps from my studio to my bathroom, and fifteen steps from there to the kitchen. Maybe 30 steps more if the postman comes to deliver any packages. But that’s literally the space that I’ll be in for the whole day. Which is why it’s important to factor in exercise. My preference is to do it in the morning, but you need to find whatever works for you. I like my exercises to be guided just like my meditations. The Nike Training Club is an excellent free app, that can help you with your workouts. You can personalise it depending on how active you want to be and also what equipment you may/not be using for your workouts. Personally I’ve been used the Kayla Itsines SWEAT app, which you do have to pay for, it’s just as good as the Nike app, but has meal plans and recipes available for you on the app.

If you’ve had (or still have) an Apple watch, they remind you to get up and move each hour. That’s also not a bad idea, you can just create a timer for this.

Half hour dance parties are also fun. You can do them solo, or engage any living thing in your home to dance with you. Spend some time compiling a dance playlist for yourself.

If you have a big enough backyard, or can get to an oval, running or walking 10,000 steps a day is also fantastic.

Just do whatever you can to get your body to move.

Free Exercise App: Nike Training Club
Paid Exercise and Food Plan App: Kayla Itsines SWEAT

FRESH AIR
This might sound silly, but it’s really easy to forget to go outside. If possible, try to go outside to smell the roses or lie on the grass and stare at the sky. My favourite thing to do is to eat my breakfast in the garden, or read my book outside. We all live in different spaces, so figure out a way that you can do this for yourself. Learn to appreciate nature, even if it just means gazing at the sky, and observing how it changes from day to day. It will make a huge difference in your mood I promise.

CONNECT
You’re not alone. There is a world outside of your WFH bubble. Make an effort to connect with your loved ones. Text, call, facetime, leave a comment on an insta post, react to someones stories. Ask someone how their day is going. Reach out to people and say you just needed to have a conversation out loud, and tell them about a, b and c. It can be really easy to just become more and more introverted, and forget that life exists outside of your home. But it does, and there are people who care. I welcome you to engage in conversation in my comments section here, let’s be friends!

I also spend at least ten minutes each morning reading articles online that are relevant to my industry and interests. This is a great tip for even when you’re not WFH, but when you are it helps you not lose touch of what’s actually going on out there and what other people are thinking about.

These are the five sites I click on every morning:

What are or would be your top five?

PERSONAL HYGIENE/ APPEARANCE

It is very important to not forget what makes you you. Do you normally shower before work? Style your hair every morning? Wear perfume? Do ten twirls in front of the mirror before heading out for the day? You need to keep these things up as they will help set the mood for the (WFH) day, and will ensure you don’t lose yourself in this new scenario you’ve found yourself in.

One of the first things people think of when they think of WFH is the idea that you can be in your pyjamas all day. Unless you already wear pyjamas to work, this is not a good idea. As Robin Givhan wrote in her article yesterday, “Our clothes create boundaries. They mark time. Folks who regularly work from home speak of the need to change out of their pyjamas into something, anything else to announce their day has begun. To not feel like a sloth.” That’s exactly what I’m saying here Robin.

You don’t need to go full makeup, heels, or the fanciest outfit, unless of course you’re feeling yourself. Anything that you’d put on to go out in the world is acceptable. It’s quite simple and this is why you should keep it up even though you’re WFH.

Don’t forget to shower. I know you’re laughing, but I’m not joking. The only thing that has changed in your scenario is that you don’t go into work and you’re now spending more time in the comfort of your own home. This doesn’t mean that you can stop being your nice smelling clean self. I’ve created a daily tracker that you can use to keep track of when you last showered, amongst other things. You’ll find it at the end of the ‘plan your day’ section.

ARTICLES:
The Washington Post: Our clothes tell our story. What happens when the narrative is just pajamas and sweats?
NYT: What Does ‘Dressing for Work’ Mean Now?

SET THE SCENE

You need to choose a designated workspace. This space is where you will be working from everyday. You do have the flexibility to change things up and where possible work outside on a nice day. If possible, your workspace should not be your bedroom. You need to keep some places sacred, as you need to mentally be able to have some separation from each activity you do. Your bedroom needs to remain the calm relaxing place you retire to at the end of the day. A place free from technology, work and distractions. It’s ok if you want to watch movies/youtube from bed, but please definitely don’t eat in bed. If all you have is your bedroom, hopefully you have room for a desk, or if you don’t at the least, make sure you make your bed, or even have a different blanket you throw on top just for when you’re working. You might think this is unnecessary but it’s actually quite important. You’ll be spending a lot of time at home, so you want to have some kind organisation and ritual in place to ensure your sanity.

The other thing that is so easy that will literally take you one minute to do is cleaning your space. Make sure you clean your work area at the end of every day. For me this means putting my pens away, filing my drawings away, charging my MacBook, taking any tea cups to the dishwasher, and cleaning my desktop. The reason for this is so that when you come to your workspace the next morning you won’t be faced with distractions, and will be able to have a fresh start each day.

PLAN THE DAY

Planning is essential and is another non-negotiable. It might seem like a waste of time, you already know what you have to do. But the whole point is to get it out of your mind so that you can pay attention to everything else. It’s also so that you have a clear focus, and can decide what needs to be done first, and what can be left for tomorrow.

I’ve included an example of my day at the end of this whole post, and I encourage you to use it as a guide to start off with and adjust to suit your own needs.

For me, after I meditate, the next thing I do immediately after is make a cup of green tea and sit at my desk and journal. I use the technique I read about in the Morning Pages by Julia Cameron. The aim with the morning pages is to get everything that’s on your mind out of your mind onto the pages. It can start off as a stream of consciousness and I like to document anything that happened since the last time i wrote in the journal, or any new ideas I have. After I’ve written three pages, that’s when i make my plan for the day. It’s a basic to-do list. It’s great if you do it in your journal because, you can easily flick back to the previous day to either copy it, or to add anything you didn’t get around to. I like to list them in order of when to do them, because it means I basically don’t have to think about it again. I can just get on to whatever is next on the list and keep going.

Another handy tool I’ve been using is a daily tracker, which was inspired by bullet journalling. An example of mine is in the image above this section. And there is a template you can print out, if you don’t want to rule your own up. I’ve tried recording it digitally but what happens is you stop using it after about a week. It is really easy for it to disappear when it’s online, because it’s another thing you have to click on and remember. However when you have a physical copy sitting on your desk, it just makes it easier. I recommend using the tracker for any regular habits you have or want to have. It gives you a really easy way of seeing where you are at, what you haven’t made time for and what you need to pay more attention on.

BOOKS:
The 365 Bullet Guide by Zennor Compton
How To Bullet Plan by Rachel Wilkerson Miller

EXTRA ESSENTIALS

You don’t need to do any of these things, but get creative. You’re working from home now. You’ve probably dreamed up this scenario in your mind many, many times. How did that look? What did you imagine it would be like?

Everything I’ve mentioned so far might seem quite tedious and boring, and maybe what you thought you were trying to get away from having to do now that you’re at home. But you see, there are perks to being at home. The biggest one is that you have time. You have time to be fancy. You have time to turn what seem like annoying parts of your ritual when you are in a hurry into artful rituals.

One of these things for me is coffee. There’s nothing I enjoy more than the ritual of brewing a batch of freshly ground coffee beans in the morning. If you’re a tea drinker, you have time to brew tea leaves, and enjoy a beautiful pot of tea in the morning, instead of dumping a tea bag and some hot water into a keep cup on your way out the door. Research and experiment how to brew the perfect cup of tea or coffee, make it a special part of your day.

Depending on what kind of work you’re doing, design your perfect work playlist, be that classical music, pop music, podcasts or audiobooks.

Flowers are always nice. When working from home flowers are magic. It’s a way of bringing the beautiful parts of the outside into your personal space. If you can’t get to a flower market or shop, maybe you have some in your garden, or maybe someone you know has some in theirs. You don’t need much, even a stem does the trick. My favourite place to keep flowers is in my bathroom. I go in there multiple times a day and they always cheer me up when I see them.

You also have the luxury of being able to make yourself a delicious lunch. Your kitchen is just around the corner from where you are working. Don’t forget to take some time to get up from where you’re working and have some time to enjoy your midday meal.

MY PLAN

ADJUST AND PERSONALISE IT TO SUIT YOUR OWN NEEDS

Ok, so that’s everything I think you need to consider about working from home. I separated them into sections so you can pick and choose what you need. I do recommend you consider all of the points as they are all equally important.

Here is my plan of what I do from when I wake up in the morning. I’ve been following this routine for some time now and it really works. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or are not really a routine kind of person, please just give it a chance. Consider all the tips above, and once they’re incorporated into your mind and life, they really don’t take long to do at all. And will actually set you up for a great day, whether you’re working or reading all day.

Here’s what my mornings look like:

Wake up
Meditate
Make tea, journal, plan day.
Make coffee and breakfast, read articles online for 10 minutes
Shower, change into work clothes
Meditate
Begin Work

I hope that helps, and I welcome any thoughts or suggestions you may also have on the topic. And please make sure you share this with anyone who you think might benefit from it.

Jx