To my pajama-clad comrades, this post is for you. I began taking the “ten foot commute” over three years ago and since that point, I’ve made consistent upgrades to my remote officing. My cubicle friends salivate over the prospects of trading slacks for sweats and yearn for their personal fridge nearby, but if you’ve ever worked from home, you know it’s not all rainbows and daisies. This list will smooth your transition to your home office or perhaps improve your current arrangement. The work from home toolkit:
Ditch the instant coffee: I’m not a barista, but I do like a rich cup of drip coffee. In my early coffee years, the pot roosted on the coffee maker for hours, degrading with each passing minute. I’ve recently transitioned to a carafe, which keeps the coffee hot and the flavor fresh. The more refined coffee aficionado might lean toward French Press or perhaps depend on the Starbucks drive-through. Either way, demand excellence with your morning beverage.
Bite the desk chair bullet: Buying a desk chair is about as much fun as paying taxes. The sticker price always disappoints. But you will not regret the lost Benjamin(s) if you buy a great chair. It makes all the difference that the place you spend dozens of hours weekly supports you well. For the bargain-shoppers like me, let me suggest Overstock.com (mine) as a great place to start.
Engage all your senses: My second year working from home was the hardest. In retrospect, I can pinpoint the exact reason why: I worked in a dark corner of our apartment. As people, natural light is like energy food. Like a napping cat, telecommuters need to situate their desks in the sun beams. Once you find the sun, think through how to fill your office with good tunes and enriching aromatics.
Invest in sturdy slippers: Whether you wear sweats–or believe that dressing professionally is a prerequesite when working at home–is not a debate I’m touching with this post. What I will say, however, is that a good pair of slippers is a non-negotiable. Acorn is my brand of choice. I’m going on two years with my first pair.
Keep the blood flowing: The latest-and-greatest addition to my office is an elliptical machine. For this chronic-pacer, I finally have an appropriate outlet. Because I’m on the phone 10+ hours weekly, this gift from my wife is truly a game-changer. I stride at a manageable cantor and am more engaged on my calls than I am at my desk. Because I now average close 30 minutes of cardio daily, I feel healthier and more alert than I ever did before.
Battle staleness by changing environments: Like a algae-infested pond, working from home can make you stagnant. If you never leave the confines of your home, you can easily contract “office fever” (a cousin to cabin fever). I try to work outside of my home at least one day a week. Whether I’m in meetings or just holing up at my favorite coffee shop, a change of scenery keeps things fresh.
Walk by the virtual “water cooler”: I’ve found online networks to be a great source of fun. As remote workers, we commiserate when our office friends get snow days, but our biggest beef is with the lack of friendly banter and socializing that happens in the break room. Twitter and Facebook fill parts of that void for me. Through these channels and others (Skype, Gchat, etc.), I feel connected to other people.
Recreate the cubicle: It must seem odd to read this if you’re a cubicle-dweller. But, sometimes we telecommuters miss working alongside people. Hence the incredible upsurge in “coworking” (Denver) spaces and meetups. I prefer organic coworking over the more formal variety. A few times a month I’ll meet up with fellow telecommuters and we’ll each go about our business beside one another. Perhaps the cubicle is coming full circle.
In addition to these suggestions, I’d also recommend a printer/scanner, a quality laptop bag (or backpack if you’re a biker and/or walker) and a screen protector/mousepad. To my fellow remote office friends: What am I missing?
Excellent!
Thanks, my friend. I’m guessing you’d add “Spanish language professional soccer matches playing (on loop) in the background” to your ideal work environment?
Thanks for this article, Chris.
I’ve been telecommuting for over 3 years. Naturally, I’ve put a lot of thought into these exact same topics. I think that I would add the following…
1. Keep a clean/de-cluttered office. I find that, if I keep a tidy office, I’ll be more inclined to stay focused on my work and not get distracted by all of the clutter. I have also put a lot of time into the organization of my office… ergonomic desk chair, two monitors, large desk, lots of natural light. These are all very important
2. Get out at least once a day. Get up and go for a walk outside for fresh air or go to the gym or go get some coffee from the coffee shop. You should really be getting out of the house and coming in contact with someone other than your spouse every. single. day. Don’t let a few days go by without getting out!
3. If you have a company headquarters, check in at least every couple of months by going on-site. Us telecommuters are out in our own “life rafts”…I like to get back to the mother ship every once in a while to remember what it feels like to have the inertia of others working towards the same common goal.
4. Set some good work/life boundaries. The first year that I telecommuted, no time or place was sacred. I wasn’t able to compartmentalize my work life from my home life. I ended up renting an office space outside of my house to create a clear distinction. This has really helped me. Even if you can’t do that, be sure to set some good boundaries for yourself so you can strike a healthy work/life balance.
5. Lastly, I have to agree with your first point whole-heartedly! My desire for quality coffee became much more prevalent with the switch to working remote. I use my espresso machine daily for a fresh Americano first thing. I follow that with several cups of french pressed Yerbe Matte throughout my day…provides a steady stream of energy throughout the day.
-Chris D.
PS. I keep a pair of Uggs at my office for those cold mornings…Happy telecommuting everyone 🙂
Um, wow. You nailed it. Great comment; too many potent pointers to highlight just one! Well done, my friend.
3 months in and I’m still learning the ropes of effective telecommuting. I must say I was quite excited to see this this subject line in the always anticipated RSS feed from Smorgasblub. I love the insights that both Chris’s have given on this post and would be happy to give a few of my thoughts. good coffee, exercise, and some good healthy people time have certainly been a few of my favorite things thus far.
1. building a routine- I can’t say I’ve perfected this yet, but I’m on my way. I love waking up early, getting a good cup of coffee going, having some quiet time, processing my to do list for the day while I make some breaky, and diving into a couple of emails before I go get myself ready for my work day to start.
2. find 3 unique coffee shops within a couple miles of your house. Ride your bike/walk to one or more of them throughout your work day. make the most of your time by setting up a lunch meeting by arriving 2 hours early or staying two hours later.
3. Find a few organizations that do similar work as you do and ask they wouldn’t mind if you joined them at an intern desk or in their conference room every once in a while. Working in the non-profit space, I’ve met lots of other NGO’s headquartered in the Denver area who are willing to welcome us ‘remote office folks’ with open arms. You’ll get to spend time around people who speak your language and it’ll encourage your productivity/creativity at the same time.
4. try to convince the people in your office that it’s not that weird to have your face skyping into meetings, trainings, and devotionals back at HQ. I find it really helpful to see my co-workers and interact with them face to face… well, sort of face to face. (Oh, and some advice that we haven’t quite taken ourselves yet… invest in a good conference room microphone).
Corbyn, fantastic contributions. I agree wholeheartedly with your remarks, especially related to videoconferencing and the importance of finding the right coffee shops that are nearby. Good stuff.
Chris –
I guess I’ve never given this a lot of strategic thought. But as a veteran work-from-homer, here are a few random things that go into the mix for me;
1. Age & stage of kids. Our kids are in 2nd & 4th grades & attend public school. Looking back, I’m not sure I could work from home again with the kids in the preschool stage – too many distractions. 8:30am to 3:30pm daily are quiet & focused for me. I can crank out a lot of work during those times.
2. The alternative to the home office. I gave thanks every time I have to go to a meeting during rush hour (about once a month) that I’m not wasting away in a tin can doing the commute thing. I think I’ve probably added at least 15.1965 days to my earthly life by removing this stress factor. Sting had a line about it in a song somewhere: “packed like lemmings into tiny metal boxes”. It would take a significant amount of cash to get me back into that lifestyle. And by significant, I mean Warren Buffet significant.
3. I get out EVERY day. I hit Starbucks for about 90 minutes at around 5:30 or 6am. I get caught up on e-mail, do my social media posts & generally respond to others (like I’m doing now). Devotionals, reading, blogging, thinking also fill this time. I usually do a quick 10 minute walk at lunchtime. Additionally, I get to the gym 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes of aerobic exercise.
4. Balance. The virtual commute/home office lifestyle gives me, in my opinion, my best option to achieve the balance I’m looking for in life. If needed, I can more easily customize my day to accommodate family needs. Along these lines, I have developed an “ideal week” time schedule. It helps me do right by God, my family and my employer & keeps me on track with living more intentionally. Returning to point 2 above, I simply don’t know where I’d put 5-10 hours of commuting a week in my schedule. I have other priorities.
5. Travel. I do about one business trip/month. About once/year I try to find a way to include by 4th grade son on a trip. We’re starting to use this time to develop in him a vision for work, why daddy does it & how it connects to home. He thinks it’s the coolest thing EVER to travel with dad to such exotic locations as Phoenix, and he spends some time every day bugging me about when our next trip will happen. The home office thing puts him in much closer contact to what I do for a living and helps me create a sense of convergence for him about how all these things in life fit together.
6. Flip-flops. Not slippers.
Great comments, Jerry. Good to have some sage wisdom on this blog! Appreciate it. Love the travel idea — something I want to start doing immediately!
Thanks for the article Chris. My name is Craig and I was a remote worker until I started a coworking space in Denver called Creative Density in Uptown. You made some great points about having good coffee, buy a good ergonomic chair, and having people time. Nice work.
Craig
Thanks for the comment, Craig. I’ll need to check out Creative Density at some point!
Spotify. Pumping Relient K in the afternoon really helps me tackle the task list.
Nice, Isaac. For me, Explosions in the Sky is the musical magic ticket to productivity.
This is fantastic, Chris! One addition- a laptop riser to keep the screen at eye-level. Helps keep your neck and back healthy!
Awesome – great feedback.