So you’re working from home now?

Before we get started, I gotta say that’s a blessing. Something to be thankful for. At this time there are people losing their jobs, businesses losing money, parents having to pay extra for daycare, some have to figure out meals, entire industries like the event and performing arts are coming to a screeching halt. With no real compensation people are having to “figure it out” so when you get to work from home, the first step is to be Thankful.

With that said, welcome to quarantine.

My name is Jesse Daniel and I’ve essentially been quarantined for about 7 months now and working from home for almost 2 years. I use the word quarantine loosely, not in the real denoted meaning of being purely isolated for having a known virus or disease, but the type of quarantine you are probably experiencing with not gathering in large groups, being extra cautious with masks, sanitizer, and what the CDC calls “everyday preventive measures” of washing your hands and watching what you touch.

After having an autologous bone marrow transplant for Hodgkins Lymphoma I was rendered immunocompromised. Yes, those people they say are most at risk of dying if infected with COVID-19 yeah that’s me. But I’ve been at risk since August 2019, and without going into those details (that you can read here), I know a thing or two about what you are about to experience.

Thanks to the executive leadership of New Horizons Learning Group (especially CEO Kevin Landry). The company already has multiple team members working across multiple locations making digital connectivity core to company DNA. This, along with my dedication to my job, has allowed me to successfully build on my career during my personal time of disruption.

Morning Routine

You might be inclined to roll out of bed at 7:59am for your first 8am virtual meeting. Don’t.

The most important thing is to keep a routine. That’s why being thankful is step 1. It should always be step 1 when you wake up. Be glad you’re alive. With that, allow yourself a morning routine. You probably already had one, stick with it. Make your bed, shower and get dressed, make breakfast (you have a little extra time now since you’re not commuting, go ahead and treat yo’self) Make those eggs, warm up some toast for your avocado loving self, cut up some fruits or greens for a protein shake. Keep your routine and show up to work on time. 

I say show up, because you should have a place you do work. Do not work in bed. Our brains are crazy powerful and if you put your mind into work mode in the place you need to sleep, or even the room you need to sleep. Guess what happens when you try to go to sleep when you get into bed? Your body will trigger on work mode, and that’s where sleep anxiety will come about. You may have an extra room, dining table, living room, or at bare minimum porch, hallway, or other corner in a studio apartment. Create that space. And dedicate a break space or spaces, you’ll need that later. 

Alarm Trick

Get to work, now set an alarm on your phone every hour. My boss told me this one and it works great. It’s great for anywhere, but especially when you’re working from home.

Time will fly. Without distractions “stopping by your desk” or flows of certain crowds (coworkers leaving for lunch, customers or clients arriving and leaving) there’s no real outside environmental aspects affecting your sense of time except the sun. Which usually leads to 1 or 2 pm lunch breaks. Especially if you find yourself diving into deep projects or repetitive tasks.

This will allow you to keep track of time. And improve your productivity as you strive to finish your task before or shortly after the timer goes off. 

Breaks

When you get to a good mid morning break (that’s a couple of alarms in) take your break. Yes, take it. Leave your desk. Grab a snack and go check the mail. Walk around the block. You won’t catch anything from walking around the block. (As long as no one runs up to you and coughs in your face). Check your phone. But try and limit your screen time on a break because I know you’ve been on your phone during work this first morning. Don’t worry, I won’t tell. But even those productivity tools can be distractions and add up.

You need to power your mind for the rest of the day here. If you don’t check out the real world, your body will drain fast. This is where cabin fever can set in if you aren’t taking regular environmental breaks. You’ll get extra screen time at lunch, trust me.

Video Meeting Etiquette

For the rest of the morning I want to talk about virtual and remote work etiquette. If video is not default on all your meetings, start to make that a thing.

You’re about to have a lot more phone/remote calls and meetings. Use video to differentiate, if you’re calling someone ad hoc to get a quick answer or input on something a phone call or chat message will do. But if there truly is a need to discuss something in detail for longer than 15 min, make it a Zoom/Skype/teams video meeting using the app of choice or work standard.

If you don’t have a video conferencing system in place yet, ask your manager or HR to standardize one. I’d recommend one but I’m not being paid to, so I’ll leave that up to you. You will quickly find that some ideas are going to get so much harder to relay over the phone or email. You’ll find that you’ll miss knowing if someone is really paying attention to you or if you’re talking to a blank wall by reading body language and context clues. Video meetings are your friend.

And don’t be shy about video. I mean you got dressed this morning right? Perhaps you can put a little more casual into your business casual look. Are we confident news anchors on TV are all wearing pants? I’m not too sure anymore. But if you do anything riskier than shorts, I’d say you better be ready to go viral and lose your job because the world is like that. And you will be roasted on the first slip up. Trust me. Just be decent. And for your own sake, be presentable at all times. 

Remote Online Status

Another form of remote work etiquette is to update your online status. Even if you have a virtual time clock you punch in and out online from anywhere to show you’re working, other team members besides your boss and HR want to know you’re available. By making it clear when you’re available, you save yourself from feeling inclined to respond to work when you’re not available. Let me repeat that. When you are clear about when you are working, it’s easier to unplug when you show you are NOT working.

So many times the guilt has come up of, do they know I was working all day, well I haven’t talked to them. At 6p or after hours, you get an email on your phone. A different department is asking if I have the numbers of whatever. I literally was doing those all day and turned those in already. But they didn’t see me working today, they’re gonna assume I didn’t do them, I need to email them back right now. You may not have that level of guilt with work, but I did at first. Until I made sure I was on Skype as available when I was working, and I signed off when I wasn’t. Anyone could look me up and I am confident I did my work. That can wait until I’m back online. 

Afternoon Chats

Most of your productivity and meetings should be grouped together at the start of your day. By afternoon you may be running out of steam. The mindless, repetitive tasks you have probably saved for the afternoon. Or a deep work project you need complete concentration on can finally be done!

Keep those alarms going off every hour, and make sure to take an afternoon break. During this time I highly recommend you go ahead and message your co-workers. This is the stage of the day that could start to feel lonely. Is anyone else even working still?

Check in with people who may also need a break. Don’t waste too much time, obviously. But reach out to a different person each day. Within your department more often, but also reach outside your department. Make the small talk and feel free to keep it short. The organization is made up of living breathing humans, and it will be the success of the company if that is fully realized through connections, even remote ones.

Work from Home Feelings

Speaking of feeling lonely. That feeling may increase over time. This first week may be everything you had hoped for and more. But human beings were meant to connect. We are social creatures. And I will tell you first hand, there IS a difference between a virtual human and humans IRL (in real life).

I could have 5 back to back meetings all day, and yet still feel alone once the calls stop. There’s something about human breath that tips your brain off to their liveliness. There’s something about the human touch. I’m not talking about anything inappropriate at work. You’ll start to miss the handshakes, the light business friendly hugs. Even the coldest person is forced to handshake, fist bump or even wave once in a while at work. So when it’s time to log off, find a human you love and trust.

Maybe this is when you talk to your neighbor and find out more about them. Build trust so you feel comfortable being around them. I am comfortable getting my friends and family around me because I know if they are sick or not, have traveled or not. We’ve built something so much more important in this life. Trust. I trust that they would tell me if they were sick and to protect me (as they have many times over in these past 7 months). They’ll tell me they can’t see me. It’s about time we truly respect our bodies and each other by putting our relationships first. This means FOMO. This means sick days. This means flattening the curve.

This means not panicking. If you don’t actually have a virus like COVID-19 coronavirus, you are not really quarantined. If you were, even the medical staff will be covered. As they were when I was in hospital. Everyone had masks and apron shields on to come visit me. But it was only for a few weeks. About how long the disease would stay in you until you recover.

We can meet with people we trust. And if you can’t think of anyone you trust enough to tell you no, you may learn a lesson in this time that I think every cancer patient learns. The value of close relationships.

Dual Monitors

Oh, and one last thing. I don’t know how long this is gonna last, but for me it was only about a month or two until I desperately needed to buy a second monitor. You can get a lot of work done on your laptop or on a single screen.

But you know that feeling of doing work on your phone and the things you put off and say, I’ll do that on my computer. You’re gonna get that feeling after so many virtual meetings and having to switch from window to window to share and present and video chat. Your desktop just got a little more crowded and the world is on it. If you can, used monitors with HDMI are hard to come by, but I found mine at a Goodwill for only $40.

Good luck out there, and feel free to message me anytime. (that I’m online)