What might I not have anticipated about remote work that I should know?

New to Remote Work
#1

Question submitted by @srvance via Workfrom Slack

#2

The biggest things for me are:

  1. Time flies! And next thing you know you haven’t moved in hours. It took me a long time and I still struggle with stepping away from my desk or taking a break. I often push lunch because, why not? The kitchen is so close. Now I am really trying to make a conscious effort to build in breaks and a lunch for myself.

  2. Decreased social interaction can take its toll! I try to make an effort to see friends a couple times a week, and especially now I set up facetime or skype dates with friends.

  3. I’m inside a lot more than I used to be so I make sure to take Vitamin D supplements :slight_smile:

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#3

For me, a couple have been

  1. Household chores like doing the dishes or laundry and dusting are way more attractive as a distraction from work than they ever are when the alternative is leisure.
  2. Draw clear boundaries between work and life. If you need rituals, markers, and practices to do that, discover them. Otherwise, it’s too easy to just keep working on one side or to let things around you prevent you from working on the other.
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#4

It can be really jarring to be deep in work one moment, then step away from it and suddenly be thrust into a personal/emotional/whatever situation if you have others in the house with you. It can be valuable to try and take a minute and walk around the block, spend a few minutes just decompressing, or somehow else separate yourself mentally from your work, before engaging with your spouse/kids/whatever.

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