The Academic Work from Home Guide
Working from home is hard. Now that the entire world has had to try it many more people have realized how hard it is to stay on task, be productive and still maintain some work-life balance when your physical work - life spaces are no longer separate.
Many of us will have to continue to work from home or in unusual places over the coming months, and so, as someone who loves working from home and has been a successful graduate student and now post-doc here are a few of my tips for working from home.
These best practices have been complied from advice from colleagues, books, and workshops on everything from productivity to a master class in time management.
The Rule of Threes
Set three main goals for the day. You can’t do everything. Pick the three most important, not the most necessarily urgent items.
Break tasks into groups of three. This is called chunking. It helps make large projects manageable and keeps you on task.
Backcasting
Use backcasting techniques for project management. Backcasting is exactly what it sounds like - the opposite of forecasting. Work backwards from deadlines. Identify a deadline for a project, use the rule of threes to break it down, and then plan how much time you’ll need to complete each task. Then double the time estimate (things always take longer than you think they will). Now, working backward from the deadline plan out your daily or weekly tasks to make sure deadlines don’t sneak up on you.
Pro Tips
Make a schedule. Plan your day just as you would if you were in the office. Give yourself a start time, end time and make sure to plan a lunch break, and movement breaks throughout the day.
Get dressed! As tempting as it is to wear your comfiest PJs all day, get dressed and ready for the day. You’ll feel better and it helps to separate work and home life. That comfy home uniform is waiting for you at 5pm!
Don’t keep checking your email / social media / texts (unless that is your job). Plan in time during your day to do these tasks
Outer order, inner calm. Clean and organize your space. This is called mise-en-place, or everything in it’s place - and it’s essential. Ask a chef.
Sample Schedule
Note: this schedule is based on no kids and having a lot of control over your schedule. If you have kids - all bets are off, I wish you well - do your best to stay alive and sane. The issues most academics face is that they have nobody telling them exactly how to plan their day and urgent items often creep in and take priority over important tasks (like finishing those article revisions).
6 am - Rise and shine
Workout, drink the coffee, or meditate. Do the things that help you feel alert and happy.
7 am - 8am
Shower, get ready, walk the dog. Do the things you need to do before you can start your day.
8:00-9:30 am
I call this my power hour. Work on one of your goals. Pick the most important one or maybe your favourite project. Put everything on do not disturb and get some solid dedicated time in. This will make you feel like you’ve already accomplished something before most folks have had their first coffee break.
9:30-10am
Check email / do administrative work.
10-10:30 am
Movement break
10:30 - 12:00pm
Work on another of your primary goals. I usually get up and get a glass of water, or coffee once an hour just to make sure I keep moving. If your tasks are very repetitive or you are having trouble staying on task set a timer for 25 minutes and then reward yourself with a 5 minute break. This helps reduce mental fatigue and keeps you focused. I friend told me about this approach and an app called XXX that can help you stay motivated.
12:00 - 1:00 pm
Lunch break! I like to have pre-cut or easy to make lunches so that I can take the dog out for a walk and get some movement into the day. I put on my favourite podcast and get outside.
1:00-3:00
Work on your third goal of the day. Use chucking strategies and break down the tasks at hand. After lunch it can be easy to get caught up in whatever project is urgent or get distracted. Put your phone in another room and make sure you have specific goals for this period of time in order to help you stay motivated and on-task.
3:00 - 3:30
Get up from your desk, take a short break, organize your space or take some time to do a bit of planning for the rest of the day / tomorrow. Any projects that need a bit of extra time? Now is a good time to work on those.
3:30 - 4:00
Check email one more time at the end of the day.
4:00 - 5:00
If you have the ability to I use this a bonus hour to return to my favourite project or follow up with meetings and clear my schedule for the next morning. Mise-en-place.
End of the word day. Plan in something that that creates a mental and habitual change from work to leisure time. Change your clothes. Go for your end of the day walk / run / workout. My husband wears the exact same outfit as soon as he gets home from work. Every. Day. I started calling this is “home uniform” and now we joke that we know when we’ve stopped working since we change into our home uniforms of our comfiest clothes.
Another happiness hack I borrowed from a friend - Friday afternoon treat. Plan in regular treats throughout the week. These “treats” don’t actually have to be laden with sugar or bad for you. A friend of mine told me how she likes to drink a Pepsi Max every Friday afternoon. This way she doesn’t feel tempted to drink pop during the week and her afternoon Pepsi tastes even better. I started this tradition myself and my Friday afternoon Coke Zero is a legit treat. The second a crack that can in the afternoon I feel like I can taste the weekend.