Take a Break and Lower Your Expectations
*The picture above was taken just as we prepared to publish this blog. It is my real workspace right now. I’ve taken over a high bar as a desk and sewing station and a ping pong table for the making of masks. Talk about chaos. This is real life in the age of coronavirus.
Have you felt productive these last few weeks? NO?!?!? Me neither.
Despite having worked from home for five years and reading countless articles on how to do it ‘right,’ I have felt incredibly unproductive since the COVID shut down. I’m starting to realize that my lack of productivity has nothing to do with the puppies that I’m fostering in my workspace or the kids interrupting my ‘flow’ or the couch calling my name. It has to do with mental health and a lack of focus.
I truly believe that we are undergoing a collective trauma. The ongoing uncertainty, daily heartbreak, and proximity of the danger outside is taking a mental toll. With everything going on, it’s just difficult to focus. It’s also difficult to admit that it might not get better anytime soon.
I am going to suggest three COVID Work Rules for myself and you’re welcome to adopt them too:
1) Be Kind to Yourself – If you are a woman, you’ve probably heard mantra after mantra about the importance of selfcare. I’m not going to repeat that here. I want to focus on the simplest selfcare because I think that’s all that most of us can muster during the workday. So, here’s what I’m going to suggest…don’t beat yourself up. Don’t hold yourself to unrealistic standards for the moment that we are in. Whether you realize it or not, you are under a completely new type of stress that comes from multiple angles. It’s ok to be at a little less than your most productive self. Let your brain take the time that it needs to adjust and don’t let the demons in there tell you that the weight of the world depends on how many tasks you complete today.
2) Take a Break – When you are feeling burned out, give yourself time to breathe, walk, meditate, scream, cry, whatever. It’s ok to need a minute right now. Realize that if you worked in an office before, your day was probably full of unintentional and intentional breaks – walking to the printer, chatting with a co-worker, grabbing coffee from the break room. Just because you don’t need to do those things now, doesn’t mean your brain doesn’t need that time to recoup.
3) Be Flexible – Some articles that you read right now are going to tell you to stick to a schedule when you are working from home. Yeah, ok, that’s nice. Do you have 3 puppies biting your feet, 2 children asking for help, and a husband on a conference call? No, well, then shut the f&^k up. Everyone’s situation is different, and you may find that some days you are more productive early in the morning and others it’s late at night. You may find you hate your home workspace now that you are in it every day, and you’d like to work from the couch on Tuesdays. That’s ok. Don’t squander your moments of productivity whenever and wherever they happen because someone else told you that you have to work in a specific way.
I think that this all boils down to…you do you right now. We will make this work. We will get through this, and hopefully, we will all be better equipped for whatever the future holds.
Stay safe and healthy!
