Hey friends! I wanted to bring to you a few resources and tips to help with your transition to working at home.
Seven months ago I began working from home for the first time in my life. I had resigned from my position as a secondary public education teacher of 20+ years to stay at home and start a new endeavor.
At that time I thought that it would be easy to simply slide right into my new self-employed role. I was wrong. It was so much different than the role of a school teacher.
My main struggle was with organizing my time each day. As a teacher, your day is already scheduled for you. You have a set daily routine and plug in the lessons for each class period. However, working from home required that I decide and manage every resource in order to become as efficient as possible. Not easy. Where do you even begin?
So I have put together a few of the essentials in this post that will guide you in creating a practical and quick “work from home” environment. I have even included a simplified schedule of how I organize my “day in the life of a blogger” at the end of this post.
Create an Office Space
First of all, you need to designate a space of your own to work from. This can be tricky especially if your spouse is working from home too. Not only that, but you might even have children who are now attending school virtually or smaller children who require constant attention.
So it can be a bit challenging, but there are generally a few options at your disposal. Depending on your situation you might be able to use one of the public areas in your home like a kitchen table, desk in a living room, playroom, media room, or even a larger closet. (You really have no idea how many people record podcasts in their closet!!!) We have a laundry room that I could set up a small table and chair to work at. The point is that you might have to be creative and flexible.
I have chosen to work from the kitchen table. It is in the heart of the house with lots of traffic and noise at times, but I love the extra sunlight it provides and at times I can always run into the bedroom or onto the back porch to take a phone call or record a video.
Get Yourself Organized
Secondly, the most important thing you can do is get yourself organized! I did this by buying a planner in January. It has several different features that I use on a daily basis. With a monthly calendar, a place for notes and to do’s, and each day of the week broken up hourly, I can schedule all the tasks for the day! Y’all! It’s been a lifesaver for me! I found very quickly that in order to keep from wasting time and money, I had to hold myself accountable for every minute of the day! I am linking a few planner options and some of my favorite supplies I use daily! By the way, these are the ONLY pens and mechanical pencils I will use… As a former language arts teacher, I’m kinda picky!
Personally, I like to separate my home tasks and my work tasks. So, I have a calendar for all of my work plans, and a desktop calendar for all the house chores, meals, and family appointments. I know some folks like to put all of these in one place, you have to figure out what works best for your situation. Practically speaking, I have too many things that are work-related to combine it with my home tasks.
Get Help From the Professionals
Next, it can be helpful and comforting to find out how other people are navigating through these same circumstances! These podcasts are all business-related and have proven very insightful over the past several weeks.
I haven’t put these shows in any order, and I know there are many more out there worth listening to.
The Science of Social Media Podcast
Build Your Tribe grow your business with social media
Make Sure to Schedule a Break
Because these are super stressful times, you’ll want to schedule in some small breaks. The breaks can be 5-10 minutes as often as needed. My husband and I scheduled in 2 to 3 “walking” breaks. One was right before lunchtime, one before dinner and one after dinner. We were able to stretch our legs, and walk around the block with dog and kids in tow if needed!
I’m also including some an awesome playlist I’ve created! You can listen to it as you take a walk, clean the house, eat lunch, run an errand, or anytime you need some encouragement! I’m happy to say it is kid-friendly as well!
Also, I have linked some ‘non-business’ podcasts you might want to check out rather than listening to the daily news reports. I have listened to all of these as well!
For the Love with Jen Hatmaker
Made for This with Jennie Allen
Set a Flexible Daily Schedule
Finally, I thought it might help to see a typical day’s routine here @lululoves7.com Hopefully it can give you some inspiration in creating your own rhythms in the upcoming weeks.
7:00 am Drink lemon water
8:oo Have a cup of coffee and do my quiet time. To see more about my morning routine click here. Also, if you’re looking for some good books for spiritual growth or devotionals click here.
9:oo Workout
10:00 Shower and get dressed for the day. Check and respond to emails, texts, organize tasks for the day.
11:00 Complete any business or paperwork. Prepare posts, captions, hashtags for IG, FB, Pinterest, etc…
12:00 Post on IG, Like and comment on social media.
12:30 Lunch
1:00 -5:00 pm Creating content, shopping, try-on sessions, videos, stories, brainstorming new ideas, calendaring…
9:00 I will usually recheck IG and like and comment for 15-30 minutes.
10:00 Bedtime!
This is a typical schedule. It is flexible. I am diligently trying to abstain from social media on Sundays. Also, I have not included any household chores, meals, or kid-related tasks. Generally, I try to squeeze in chores after work hours, or during a quick break if possible.
Mostly, what you need is to give yourself grace right now. It is hard at the beginning. You will probably want to quit every day. However, at some point, you will find a rhythm and it will be so good. So hang in their ladies! It does get better.
As always, I hope that you will find this helpful! Please leave any comments, questions or feedback you may have!
Cindyh
Great post! I especially liked seeing your daily schedule!
Thank you Gretchen! I hope it was helpful! I always need a visual!