Remote Working 101

Covid-19 has forced all of us to work from home. Here’s how you ace it.

It’s been a long 15 months of working from home and I want to say it gets better, but frankly, you just get used to it. It’s not all bad because we are one of the fortunate ones who get to stay at home, keep our jobs and have a steady pay check coming in. Lots of people do not have that option and plenty have lost it too. These are tough times, with the virus out on the loose, barely any social life left, no clue of when things will go back to normal and a looming danger of masks becoming a permanent facial accessory. But hey, what are we if not optimists?

Like it or not, we do have to stay at home for some more time and I hope most of us have prepped their homes and adjusted their lives accordingly, but if you are late to the party, here’s the ultimate guide for you!

Office Must Haves

• A computer (duh!). Set it up facing a nice background, hopefully one where your family isn’t prancing about every minute.
• A solid WiFi so you know there are others in the world apart from the people in your own house.
• Definitely an uninterruptible power supply (UPS)! Those Zoom calls will have you fading in and out without one in case your electricity supply decides to create a nuisance.
• A ring light, if looking great during meetings is important to you ;)
• If you are not focused on a specific budget, try a meeting sound dampener in your dedicated office. You will definitely notice a difference.
• A quality microphone and camera setup is a must. Having grainy picture quality or being inaudible when explaining something can be a bummer.
• Blue-blocker glasses! These glasses have filters in their lenses that block or absorb blue light to keep screen time comfortable. A must have for people spending 8 to 10 hours in front of the screen.
• If you are old school like me, keep a notepad and a pen handy. Nothing like a todo list to begin your day and seeing the tasks crossed off at the end of a productive day.
• A sit/stand desk — it is important to invest in a corner where you’ll spend almost 60 hours a week, and maybe more if you have side projects.
• And most importantly, a comfy chair to give your back and bum that much needed support. You don’t want to come out of the pandemic as a hunched over 20 something with the back pains of a 60 year old.

A few other things which are not necessary but … uh… consumerism!

• An Alexa or any other voice assistant to scream at. Or not. Just to switch your lights on/off and play songs at your command.
• A few plants to brighten up the space? You aren’t going out anyway, maybe now is a good time to check if you have a green thumb?
• A cable organiser is quite important if you have OCD like I do and absolutely cannot stand mess. Really cleans out your desk and makes it look organised, unlike your life.
• It’s a pandemic so having a sanitiser on your desk is not only a recommendation but a health mandate at this point.
• And lastly, the sanitiser ain’t good for your hands boo! So keep a moisturiser handy :D

Set your own routine

You have a stocked up home, your close ones nearby, a job and a great list of must have office supplies thanks to the above paragraph, now all you need to figure out is what works for you. However mundane it may sound, having a routine is actually going to do wonders for you during this tough time. Not being able to go out or pursuing our outdoor hobbies leave us feeling empty and with no structure to our life. We need to be able to regain control.

Set a time to wake up the same as before, allocate some time for your hobbies, some to learn new skills, some for work. Exercise is essential, so set aside an hour at least for some movement. Meditation will be super helpful if you are looking for some peace of mind. Basically, segregate your day based on various activities and follow through to help make some sense of whatever is going on around us. Or don’t. Do what works for you. If doing nothing and just surviving is what you did in a day, so be it. The circumstances aren’t normal and expecting you to be, isn’t right.

Coffee and munchies?

Coffee keeps me going and if it wasn’t for it, mistakes would have been made. I am a caffeine addict and cannot start my day without a hot cuppa but a healthy amount of your fav drink, in regular intervals, be it chai or coffee, is essential. Have a coffee machine handy to improve the at-home experience if visiting your nearest Starbucks is a long shot right now. If you are a chai fanatic, then there’s nothing like some ginger chai to lift your mood.

As much as exercise is important, keep a few snacks nearby. Calories don’t count during a pandemic (kidding!) but the intermittent dopamine that snacking gives you, will definitely keep you sane. Try not to consume only packaged or deep fried foods sold in the market and switch to trail mix, super foods etc which are easy to stock on your desk and do not harm as much even if eaten in large quantities, but will keep you full throughout the day.

Don’t forget some exercise

Even a 30 minute session of yoga, pilates, HIIT or any other home workout that feels good for you is going to do wonders for your body and mind. If your housing situation allows, and if you like to run, please do. Getting some form of exercise everyday is especially important if you have a desk job like me that requires you to sit in the same spot for hours straight. Your body will thank you for it when the scale isn’t up by 5kgs after the lockdowns are over.

Taking small breaks every hour to move around is good for you. You need to walk a certain number of steps everyday, stand up for a certain amount of time and get some exercise everyday to stay healthy.

Exercise is not just for the body, You need to practice some meditation, self reflection or write in your gratitude journal everyday to keep yourself mentally fit and sane too.

Hydrate! Staying at home the whole day will have your body dehydrated and you wouldn’t even know. Keep drinking water at regular intervals to help balance bodily fluids and maximise physical performance. Also, dehydration is known to cause headaches so keep chugging water to prevent those.

Hobbies and Healing

To pass time or to stop feeling helpless, we can read, write, listen or create music, learn a skill maybe, cook, bake and what not. With YouTube, Udemy, Masterclass and what not at our behest, there are people out there making the most of this time. And rightly so. When else are we going to be like this, cooped at home and with free time on our hands?

Cooking and cleaning after yourself (with no domestic help allowed at this point) are the top most skills you should master and the lockdown will force you to do that. This skill is going to be advantageous when you stay alone or move to a different country, and is obviously going to help you loads when locked down. And who knows, you might even discover your internal chef while honing your culinary skills.

But it is okay if you aren’t doing this too. It’s okay if you aren’t furiously making banana bread or learning French or drinking dalgona and posting about it on Instagram. It is important to heal at this time. Disconnect. Take breaks. Do what makes you happy. Meditate, talk to friends or a therapist, or just take a day for yourself, doing what you like or doing nothing at all.

It’s okay if you just be. It’s okay to spend time with your family and your pets. Now is the time to relax and thank our stars that we have a roof over our head and a healthy body. The rest can be done in time :)