I have that song stuck in my head. The one from High School Musical. I don’t actually know the whole song but the chorus goes like this:
We’re all in this together…
It’s been nine days since we were ordered to stay home from school and work. Last weekend my mind was full of questions and plans. So many questions and not so many plans.
It hasn’t exactly changed much over the last nine days.
So many questions and not a whole lot of answers.
Here is what I do know:
- My job has transitioned the majority of the staff to work from home status for a minimum of two weeks.
- My children will not be in school until April 6 at the earliest.
- We are not traveling anywhere as we had planned for their spring break which is happening right now.
- There are no sports happening in the foreseeable future so I need to come up with an entirely new action plan for the team members on my staff to ensure we stay on track and remain productive.
- My husband will not be home all the time, he will need to be at his work overseeing his operation most days out of the week.
Starting last Monday, we were forced into a new normal.
Now we are into a new week. It’s supposed to be spring break. But we aren’t at Disney World as we planned. Week 2 of no school for the kids and parenting from behind my laptop while trying to get work done. ⠀
I gave myself a week to just be. To be confused. To be unfocused. To make plans and see if they worked or failed. My 10 year old crafted a schedule and I gave it my best effort. Demanding children aside, I learned a few key things about my work at home needs.
Check out the three learnings I picked from this first week and how I plan to adjust them moving into this week.⠀
Short Segments
I do not work very well in short bursts. I got nothing done for the first few days because I was jumping quickly from kid thing to work thing and back again.
The schedule my daughter crafted was really helpful for us to create some normalcy to their day. But it also meant that I was a slave to it and forced to get them set up for each time block and then try to squeeze in emails and work in between.
One of the productivity rules I try hard to follow, I actually have it on a sticky note at my desk at work is your inbox is not your to-do list.
The rule definitely went out the window last week. I felt like that was all I could keep up with.
Adjustment: For this week I am trying to block time better along with my girls’ schedule. I am also going to give my girls more insight into my day ahead of time. If they know I have a call at a certain time and lunch needs to be later, then they can plan better and will know what to expect.
This should cut down on the rushed feeling I was facing last week every time I sat down to actually work.
Knowing I need 30 minutes for a zoom call before they go outside will help with them coming to me every five minutes to ask when their lunch will be ready.
Dual Screens
Game changer is all I can say. I never realized how much I rely on having two monitors until this week. Apparently I multi-task like crazy which is not a great habit but having multiple screens makes it so easy to move from one thing to the next. Especially when I am doing any type of design work.
Being relegated to working in various places around my house means I really can only work off my ancient work-issued laptop. No nice big dual screen action for me while I am at home.
Adjustment: As of now, I am not going to set up a different workstation at home. I need to be more mobile right now. Instead of changing the set up I am going to focus again back to the block scheduling concept to force myself to multi-task less.
I do not need my email open all day. We will see how that goes.
Alone Time
Oh, how I miss it! Just something simple like my drives to and from the office are no longer part of my daily routine. I do my best thinking when I am alone doing something mindless like showering or driving.
There is zero alone time during the days right now. Its sort of like going back to the days when the kids were toddlers and they followed mom around all day. I am not loving the restlessness I feel at night when I don’t get enough solo time to process and refocus during the day.
Adjustment: I need to find ways to integrate alone time into my day. When the weather is nice I can push the kiddos outdoors and sit with myself for a bit but even better is to take a lap around the block or a bike ride. I miss my podcast listening time so I am trying to work those in when I’m doing tasks away from the kids like laundry folding and emptying the dishwasher.
Working through these struggles I have uncovered in the first week should not be too difficult. I think it is all part of learning what this home lifestyle needs to look like for us.
The country is still in the stage where the environment around us is changing very rapidly. We are getting new information thrown at us by the hour.
While we may be dealing with different circumstances in our own homes and communities, the underlying message is the same.
Stay home for the good of everyone. Be diligent in following the social distancing protocols, even if it means disappointing the kiddos who want to play with friends. We are all dealing with this together.
Troy Bolton really did say it best.
What have you learned about yourself in week one and what are you looking to adjust for week two?
