From limiting your distractions, taking control of your notifications and much more.
TL;DR
This won’t be easy.
It’s week two of self-quarantine for us here in San Francisco. Getting low on rations, and it’s near impossible to stay sane — let alone productive. “It could be a lot worse,” we tell ourselves. Cabin fever isn’t that bad… In fact, it’s a huge privilege that we’re able to work from home, that we have jobs, we’re healthy, that our lone bottle of whiskey is still half-full.
COVID-19 has affected many lives, killed thousands, set off a panic and is bringing the world’s economy to a standstill. Many have kids who are no longer able to attend school, forcing parents to resign from jobs to self-quarantine. Due to the shutdowns and lack of commerce, thousands that work in the service industry are facing layoffs or could face bankruptcy as a small business. Those who have it the worst by far are our elderly and immunodeficient who are literally losing their lives or afraid of even going into a grocery store due to the spread of this virus.
It has also kicked off, an earlier than predicted, mass transition to virtual office culture. Working from home — “WFH” or “remote work” — is nothing new, but has reached the mainstream. More than 26 million Americans — about 16% of the total workforce — reported working remotely at least part time, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, before social distancing became the norm.
That also begs the question: if work culture will ever be the same. With the myth that “this job just can’t be remote” being ever present in business culture, it’s going to be difficult for employers to defend that argument from here on out. Will employees want to go back to their offices? Absolutely. But to say that things will go completely back to normal is simply not true.
Get dressed. Brush your teeth. Make your bed. These simple habits signal to your brain that the day has started — even if your commute is ten steps to the kitchen table.
Don’t open Slack the moment you wake up. Give yourself 30 minutes of breathing room. Read something. Make coffee. The emails will still be there.
Block your calendar like you would in the office. Lunch is lunch. End of day is end of day. The blurring of home and work is the biggest trap of remote life.
Dedicate a physical space to work. It doesn’t have to be a separate room — it can be a corner of the kitchen table — but when you’re in that spot, you’re working. When you leave it, you’re done.
TV off. Phone face-down. News tabs closed. You know your distractions better than anyone. Remove them from your workspace before you sit down.
Set Slack to Do Not Disturb during deep work blocks. The culture of instant response is a productivity killer. Batch your messages. You don’t need to reply within 30 seconds.
Open a video call with a colleague and just… work together in silence. It sounds weird until you try it. The ambient presence of another human is surprisingly effective at keeping you focused.
Remote work can feel isolating. Having a regular check-in with someone who pushes you — a mentor, a coach, an accountability partner — keeps the professional momentum going.
You don’t have a manager walking by your desk anymore. You have to be your own performance review. Track what you ship each day. Notion, a simple doc, a notebook — whatever works. The act of writing it down changes your relationship with your own output.
End the day with something — a Virtual Happy Hour, a walk, a hobby, a book. The days blur fast when you’re remote. Creating a ritual at the end of the workday gives you something to work toward and a clear line between on and off.
This was written in week two of San Francisco’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place, March 2020. Remote work went mainstream that month and never fully went back.