The Awesome Power of Putting on Pants
Pants are a metaphor!! Simple routines can help you stay productive working at home!
This article was originally published on LinkedIn in August of 2021. I’m reposting it here as part of moving my writing to my own platform…
Spoiler Alert… Pants are a metaphor!! You probably saw the whacky cover photo with that headline and thought “Rob has lost his mind, but I’ve always wondered about his choice in pants”... Well, I hate to disappoint you, but this is really an article about how simple routines can help you NOT to lose your mind while working from home.
This article is for 1 of 2 people..
You hate working at home and you need advice
You love working at home but you need advice
Uhhhh Rob… why the hell didn’t you write this article last year?
That’s an aggressively valid question… In short, last year everyone who could was working from home and the world was inundated with #wfh articles and advice. Things are different now though in that we thought we were almost done but we’re not.
At the time of this writing, it’s late summer 2021… the Delta Variant is putting the clamps on going back to the office for a lot of folks and depending on your point of view, you’re either celebrating or freaking out about not going back into a dedicated workplace.
“I thought this s**t was over!” … “I need to get out of the house and see my team!”... “But I can’t go back to the office… I won’t get anything done there!”
We want to get back to some kind of “normal”... Months and months of continuous stress and change have been beating us down and just when we feel like we’re moving forward, yet another something that we can’t control sets us back. With good reason, our emotions are all over the place and it can be incredibly hard to focus. I feel it every day all day, and I know I’m not alone in wanting to get more control over my world. So, it’s time for a booster shot of work from home advice.
Uhhhh Rob… You’ve always worked at home!
Yes, I’ve been working from home off and on since 1992 when I quit a pretty good gig at the County of Los Angeles (to my parent’s horror) and became a freelance graphic artist. In all that time I’ve only worked in a consistent office for less than 6 years total. 16 months here, 2 years there, another 20 or so months there... The rest was working at home with occasional stints working on site.
I was forced to develop discipline about working at home from a relatively young age, and over the years I’ve developed some ideas and approaches that work for me to keep me "mostly" sane and to keep my family from voting me out of the house more than once a week.
Keep in mind that all the stuff below are things I built into my world over a long period of time to help me cope with stress, fatigue, repetitive motion and all the other things that come with spending long hours at home in front of a screen tapping on keys, swiping on a Wacom tablet, swearing at After Effects, and lately swearing at email and spreadsheets… I don’t know if they’ll help you but it’s my hope that seeing how I approach working from home you’ll start thinking differently about the challenge.
Routine is your friend (unless it’s a bad routine)
Working from home is a minefield of distractions. Your home is where you relax and find refuge from the world and all the stuff you like is there. The TV, the internet, the Xbox, the fridge, the bed, your cat, oh and your family… that’s a lot of stuff that is NOT work. The ONLY way working from home is going to work is if you create daily routines that give your work structure and timing that will help insulate you from the distractions. The distractions are still there but the routine keeps you from plopping down on the sofa and waking up at 5pm asking “what happened?”.
Over the years, I’ve structured my day into these chunks below, but for the sake of brevity I’ll group the chunks since there’s a lot of overlap on ideas…
Wake up and Commute
Morning work session
Lunch
Afternoon work session
Evening not work session
Bed
Wake Up and Commute routines…
Get up at a consistent time…
No matter what I have going on at work I try to get up about the same time every day. 630 if I’m going to the Gym, 7 if I’m going for a walk. More on these activities in a moment.
Movement every day…
Exercise is critical for mental and physical health... it improves your mood, and your focus. I’m a morning movement person, but I don’t always “work out” every day. Instead, I have a palette of choices (sounds nice right?) and it includes going to the gym, riding my bike or taking a walk. I start with stretching, and then at least one of these 3 every morning. You don't need to get shredded like that dude on YouTube, and it doesn’t take much to experience the benefits.
Learning every day…
I don't actually commute to work but my morning movement routine serves the same purpose… it’s a time between getting up and working that gives me a chance to think about the day ahead OR even better learn something new. We’ve all got an entire world of podcasts or online education right in our pocket and audio is a fantastic companion while getting your movement on. (ask me about my favorite podcasts in the comments) But do NOT listen to music or podcasts or anything on when you're riding a bike!!! Be safe out there friends!!
Get dressed every day…
This is where the pants from the title come in. Working at home it would be super easy to roll out of bed, scratch “yourself” and hop onto zoom or your inbox. DON’T DO THAT. Being successful at home is about creating separation from work. The act of putting on “pants” even if they’re not actually “pants” is part of that separation. It signals to your brain that you’re going to work.
DON'T turn on the news…
This needs a “dammit” at the end… Apologies to my friends who work in the 24 hr news industry, but that stuff is terrible for your mental health. The delivery is purpose built to cause you stress and anxiety so you won’t change the channel. Starting your day with that energy does not set you up for success.
Morning and Afternoon Work routines…
Check into work at the same time each day…
Mental health at home is about separation from work and your morning routine is part of that... It is sacred time. There's no better way to jack up your morning routine than looking at your inbox. If your inbox or work chat is blowing up and you're tempted to look... ask yourself "What would I do if I were driving to work?" The answer is... it would wait until you got to work. Unless you're one of those wieners texting and driving. Don't be a wiener.
Define your workspace…
Have a dedicated place in the house that you do “work” and claim it by organizing and arranging the space to suit your style. I’ve built my world around working from home, so it’s not surprising that I have a full bedroom that I’ve turned into my office. For many this isn’t possible for a variety of reasons, but even if you’re working at the kitchen table, have a routine for “claiming” the table for work each day. Clear the dishes, put down a specific placemat for your laptop, use a different chair, anything that can signal to your brain that it’s “at work”.
Work someplace else…
Even though I have a nice home office, I still love to get out of there on a regular basis so I don’t go stir crazy. That was reeeeeeeeally hard to do during peak covid, but coffeeshops are mostly open here and I’m vaccinated so I have a couple of places that I work at for a couple of hours after my trip to the gym. When coffee shops weren’t open I’d go to the park and tether off my phone. If it was cold I brought blankets… anything to get out of my four walls.
Drink water and take breaks…
Coffee is not water. Tea is not water (okay technically it is but you know what I mean). Hydration is critical for your health and if you drink enough of it you’ll have no choice BUT to take frequent breaks. :)
Lunch Routine...
Do NOT eat lunch at your desk…
This one also needs a “dammit” at the end. Working continuously all day is not emotionally or physically sustainable, and your mental health demands down time. Even if your desk is the kitchen table, close your laptop and eat in silence or go out and get some lunch or go for a walk and skip food… Lunch isn’t really about “eating” it’s about not working for a while so you can get through the afternoon in one piece. Burritos are good though… just saying.
Evening Routines
Check the F out at the same time each day…
I really should have spelled out the F... I’ll keep saying it… Mental health in this new normal is about separation from work, and if you’re working from home you can’t get that if you’re still working at night. Work will still be there in the morning.
Do something each evening…
You’re much more likely to shut down work if you have something you’re looking forward to doing at the end of the day. Exercise, family time, work on the side hustle, learn an instrument, throw darts, zoom with a friend… Just like my morning routine I do at least one of these every evening.
Go to bed as early as you can…
Notice I didn’t say “go to bed early”? This is something I struggle with… I’m a weird combo of morning person and night owl, so it’s hard for me to turn my brain off at night. I try to combat this by turning off my screens about an hour before bed but it is a struggle. The one rule that IS sacred though is…
NO phone or TV in bed…
The bedroom is for 2 things… I don’t even have a TV in there and I never look at my phone once I’m in the sheets. I keep it face down on night do not disturb mode so only my immediate family can reach me in case of an emergency.
What did I forget?
Honestly this article could have been much longer but I tried to pair it down to what I thought were the most important things that keep me kinda sane working at home in the hopes that you’ll pull a nugget or two to keep yourself kinda sane in the weeks and months to come. We’re not even close to being through this unfortunately, but a little bit of routine can go a long way towards keeping yourself as mentally and physically healthy as possible.
If you have some great routines or work from home tips, let us know in the comments!
