Working from Home - How's that Working?
If you’re anything like me, you probably woke up on March 20th and were already sick of working from home. There’s just something not fun or productive about working out of your dining room, or guest bedroom, or heck, even out of your kitchen. Home is full of so many distractions (like sinks full of dishes or laundry or yardwork or dust or kids or spouses, do I need to go on?) that before quarantine, you were safely shielded from in the comfort of your office. And now it’s occupying all your headspace and attention. So, if working from home is no longer working for you, here are my recommendations.
Create Privacy: If you can’t leave the house, create a private space in your home. Close the door to the room you’re working in, put on noise-cancelling headphones, whatever that looks like for you: create space for you to focus. Don’t work in a high traffic space in your home like your kitchen, instead, turn your closet into your office if that’s what it takes to get away from the distractions -- these are desperate times and we’re not here to judge. The point is: make space for you to get work done, whatever that looks like for you, and honor it. Don’t do anything but work at your desk, don’t take your work to the couch or your bed, and create a boundary for when/where you work. Trust us: it’ll help immensely.
Find a Coworking Space: If you can leave the house, but you can’t return to your office, check out local coworking options. Chances are, you never knew they existed but it turns out, they’re kind of everywhere. The gig economy has created a massive rise in these types of spaces and a quick search will likely turn up more options than you could have ever imagined. It’s important to note that most of these spaces are back up and running post-quarantine, and have added safety measures and systems to ensure that coworkers can safely commingle. If you’re in Columbus, check out Hopewell, Haven Collective, or Industrious. Many offer free drip coffee, WiFi, conference rooms and more, and it’ll feel so good to connect with other coworkers, from a socially distant, out of the house space designed to help you be productive.
Think Out of the Box (literally): Columbus startup ootBox wants to literally create your next office, wherever you work. They use shipping containers to create work environments on a small, non commercial scale. You can literally park your office in your driveway, parking lot, or backyard, and create a custom work environment for yourself or your team. We love them because 1) They’re local and we love our Columbus startups and 2) They’re bringing a totally new, fresh perspective to the work environment that didn’t exist before, and 3) Fun fact: their name literally means “out of the box.” Check them out!
The point of all this is, we know that working from home can be challenging. Throw in a pet, a spouse, children or just a sink full of dirty dishes, and you’ve got a ready-made distraction system that will hinder your ability to be productive. By creating a workspace that functions for your needs, you can be productive and you may actually find yourself getting more work done than when you were in the office. Got more ideas? Let us know what’s working for you!