Work From Home

I had more than 2 years to figure out how to work from home and I would like to share what works best for me.

Drink an Iced Latte Every Morning

What?

I put a Voltesso Nespresso pod into the Nespresso machine, four ice cubes into a mug, and then after it’s brewed, I fill to the top with sweetened vanilla almond milk. I do this after I have brushed my teeth, washed my face, combed by hair, and got dressed for the day.

Why?

I heard early on in the pandemic to get dressed every day even if you aren’t going anywhere. This turned out to be good advice because it really convinces myself that I’m not a slob, in fact I’m clean and classy, and my work should reflect that.

As for the espresso, I love being able to get a little bit of caffeine in the morning as I found out one cup per day is not bad and good for preventing some heart conditions. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know about that, but since they haven’t found yet that any amount of caffeine is bad, like they have found any amount of alcohol is bad, I’m taking that as a sign it’s ok.

It also helped the whole world when Britains switched from alcoholic drinks to tea so they could stop spending their whole days drunk, so I’m taking the win.

I use almond milk because I’m slightly lactose intolerant, the milk is cheaper than cow’s milk, and the drink is fortified in order to compete with cow’s milk. Fortification of foods is really important to me ever since I found out I wasn’t getting enough Vitamin B12, and I realized it was because I was eating considerably less meat than I used to and I had cut out my cereal every morning which is fortified with Vitamin B12. I cut it out for saving time and calories, but I have actually added breakfast back in sometimes. I recommend a daily bowl of cereal as well, but since this is a lot of work for some people, I’m leaving it out of this tip heading as a requirement.

The latte is iced because heating up the milk takes too long to do, and it may minimize teeth staining. I also forget to drink my drink all the way sometimes, and the iced drinks still taste fine to me after they come to closer to room temperature.

Do a House Chore Every Day

What?

Do at least one house chore on top of any daily ones you must do due to your family’s needs. These are things like sweeping/vacuuming the floor, wiping the windows and mirrors clean in the house, or taking out the trash on trash day.

Why?

Chores for me are great exercise! Everyone recommends to me to get a gym membership, but now that we know how many airborn viruses we are breathing in indoor spaces every time we go to one, I would rather not breathe them at all!

Everyone has also recommended getting one of those exercise mirrors or peloton instead, but to me those are expensive when I could just use my existing Youtube membership to play one of Ariene’s yoga videos followed by a kpop dance tutorial. I also have a bicycle for an actual transportation option in case shtf, so a stationary bike seems like a waste of space when I could use my bicycle to transport me across the neighborhood instead of making yet another screen change colors.

This may also be something I learned from summer camp. We had a chores wheel where each cabin member had one chore each morning. They were important for us to pass cabin inspection, and for all of us to learn responsibility. I feel more like myself if I get to clean up after my own self and family.

Call People at Work

What?

While I was on a team during the pandemic, I remember getting an out-of-the-blue call on our conference tool – what seemed like – every other day from a support engineer who needed help with something. At first, I was a little annoyed but put on my normal enthusiastic voice anyway because I do love to help people. I learned I should really be doing the same thing, calling out-of-the-blue, to build relationships.

You don’t have to work on problems together, you can just talk about your days and co-work on the same conference call line - quietly or not!

Why?

I read recently that social isolation causes cognitive decline. Cognitive decline is the LAST thing I need in my job where I think for a living. I have also read recently that repeated Covid infections can cause long Covid more often than fewer infections or zero infections.

I have had zero known infections, so far, so I really would like to both keep my cognition and keep my relatively virus-free life. By relative, I mean compared to before the pandemic. I used to get colds all the time and the only times I felt as bad has been vaccine times, and when I was not getting enough sleep. By calling people, I get to just check-in with people but not feel the pressure to present myself well on video.

Also, I don’t get sad after work calls like I sometimes do when I catch up with friends on calls. I get sad after phone calls with friends because I immediately miss them after the calls are done.

Turn on Focus Mode and Make the Rule that Work Computer is Only for Work

What?

My android phone has a focus mode that I love!! It blocks all my distracting apps and turns on according to my schedule of 9 AM to 7 PM. I don’t do anything non-work related on my work computer unless I absolutely have to, like on January 6th 2021 when I needed to keep an eye on ~things~ happening on that day in particular!

Why?

I LOVE my focus mode. It lets me take a break at lunch time for 30 minutes, and the screen turns gray when it is warning me my break is almost over, and I can extend it another 30 minutes if I want to at that time. I found during the pandemic that I was stressed out a lot more than usual and didn’t have the pressure of being next to coworkers keeping me on task. It was too easy to read the news during times I should have been concentrating.

When focus mode is on, the app is disabled and I can access it if I really need to for 5 minutes at a time.

I have texts and calls allowed, so I don’t feel cut off from any actual emergency calls. I think I have no self control and need focus mode or I will do whatever it takes to ease the stress of the workday, knowing it will make it feel worse.

Another Why is that I read “The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data” by Kevin Mitnick during the pandemic because it was either free or heavily discounted on Google Books. It was a very informative book. I don’t do nearly enough to be safe from big brother and big data myself.

I did start saying to myself to not use my work computer for anything but work because I already knew every bit on the wire was visible to my work IT, so why would I chance it if they didn’t like what music I listened to, or whatever they decided to start caring about?

I found it easier to fight the temptation of distraction on my work computer when I knew it was also being watched.

-Nicole

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