Your Guide To Manage 2020
Because 2020 seems to need its own guide, we created one to put together all the tips we share with our clients. They have helped them handle change and uncertainty, and make the most of these strange times.
Working from home
If you find yourself working from home for an extended period of time, here’s how you can make it work for you.
Create a workspace
The ideal situation is to have a spare room you can turn into an office. However, not everyone has that space at home. If you do, that’s fantastic. If you don’t, you can still create a dedicated workspace for you.
It doesn’t have to be a big space. It can be a corner of your house or your apartment that would be big enough to fit in a desk and a chair.
If you don’t have the space to fit in a desk, you can work from your dining table or your sofa. In this situation, we recommend you sit at a different place than the one you’re used to. So if you eat in one spot, work in the opposite one. Same for your sofa. It will become your dedicated work spot.
Get the equipment you’re missing to make it a proper workspace: the right desk, a good chair, a monitor, a keyboard, an office plant if you can fit it in – anything that would remind you of your work desk. If you work from your dining table, you might have to put that on the side at the end of the day and setting it up again in the morning.
Whether you work from a home office, from a corner of a room, or from a different spot at the dining table, use this space solely for work. Once the work is done, do not go back there until you start working again the following day. It will help set boundaries and associate that space with work.
Manage your time
Defining working hours is very important for you to know when to start and (probably most importantly) when to finish work. Because you don’t have to commute it’s easy to just continue working extra hours.
Even though it can be helpful to keep going through your to-do list, it does set a precedent that you will be available late, which will make late requests harder to push back in the future.
One of the biggest fears we tend to have when we work from home is to be perceived like we are taking it easy or we are not really working. As a result, we stay online all day long without taking a break, just to be able to reply to people as fast as possible.
Would you do that in a regular office? Never. You would take several breaks during the day, you would stand up and get coffee, you would take your normal lunch time. Do the same from home. If you make yourself a tea or a coffee, take a few minutes of break. For lunch, update the status of your chat/slack to let everyone know you’re gone, so you don’t have to check if you received anything.
Look at your goals and see what you can do today/this week to get started or to continue working on them. At the end of the day/week, think about what you want to have achieved. You can also block off time in your calendar if you need to focus on specific tasks.
Be transparent
It’s important you keep track of your progress, not just to share them with your manager (cf. below), but also for yourself. When working from home, it’s easy to doubt our productivity. We might think that others did more than we did, simply because we don’t see them. Keep a list of what you have accomplished. If your to-do list hasn’t been completed, it’s probably because you did many other things. Add them to the list.
Be proactive in reaching out to your colleagues and engaging by email, chat and videocall. Stay in touch for work, but also for personal conversations that you would normally have in the office.
Be transparent on what you are working on with your manager, so they know what you do during the day. That way you can clarify goals and make sure there is no misunderstanding, which happen easily when working remotely.
Finding a new routine
A few changes in our day-to-day are enough to throw our routine out the window. Here’s how you can find a new routine: by relying on the old one.
Mornings
Give yourself enough time in the morning to start the day and not jump right into work. Start the way you would normally do if you were going to the office. You can wake up later than usual, since you do not have to commute, but try to keep the same tasks: breakfast, brushing your teeth, shower, taking care of the kids – and not multitasking all that while working.
Can you think of something nice you would like to do before starting to work? It can be reading a bit, meditating, stretching, enjoying a great cup of coffee – something that would make you feel grateful and happy.
The temptation of working in your pyjamas is real and we’re probably all guilty of having done that. Get dressed for work to set your mindset into work mode. You don’t have to wear a suit at home, you can wear something casual – as long as it’s not the same outfit you have slept in 😉
Evenings
If you were in the office, you would leave the building at some point in the late afternoon/early evening. Do the same here, even if your office is a corner of your home. Once that time is past, avoid logging back to work.
Once your work day is finished, take a few minutes to wind down before starting your evening. Commuting helps people transition from “professional mode” to a more personal one, by giving them time to reflect and decompress before arriving home. Because you don’t have this time when you work from home, you can still take a few minutes to wrap up your day.
In the end, the new routine doesn’t have to be that different than your normal one. Think about what you usually do, and try to make it work in this new reality.
Identify what has changed, and what’s the real impact on your time: for instance, you don’t commute so you have an extra 1 to 2 hours a day, but if you have kids they probably have schoolwork to go through.
Weekends
When everyone is at home all the time, weekends tend to look a lot like weekdays. It requires a bit of planning. You can discuss it as a family if you are living with people, or you can set goals for yourself if you live on your own. Explore and plan the things you will do during the week: the games to play, when and how the chores will be done (cf. below), who you want to connect with, how much time you will spend working, what you will cook, when you will go food shopping, etc.
They have to be done, even more so now that you spend all your time at home. Dedicate some time during the week to clean the house. If you live with people, you can create a schedule or a chores list that you will follow to split responsibilities.
To make weekends special again, do something you haven’t done during your week. It can be a game night, a nice dinner, baking a cake, doing a bit of extra self-care or any other activity that feels special.
Finding a healthy work-life balance
When office life and home life merge, when weekdays and weekends look the same, it’s crucial to focus on finding a work-life balance that supports your well-being.
Set boundaries for work
Our simple advice here is to keep your normal working hours. If you usually do 9 to 5, stay on the same schedule when working from home. It’s not because you are at home that you are available for additional (unpaid) work. You can obviously be flexible if this is required, but make sure you don’t burn yourself out.
When facing the dilemma of the late meeting, you can ask yourself: would you attend this meeting if you had to commute back home? No? Then don’t attend it now. Your commute time is not paid, it’s your own personal time, not your company’s. Gently decline the meeting saying it is out of your business hours.
When working from home, it’s not easy understand how busy other people are, and sometimes people will reach out for help when you are already stretched too thin. That time spent helping others is time you don’t necessarily spent working on tasks that matter to your job.
Make sure you don’t say ‘yes’ to every request coming your way when you know it’s going to impact your workload. Saying ‘yes’ to something means saying ‘no’ to other things. And vice versa. What else could you do that’s more important and/or more urgent?
Manage your energy
Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for your body and your mind. If you can sleep a bit more in the morning because you don’t commute, that’s great. Make sure you don’t do anything in the late afternoon/early evening that would impair your ability to go to sleep at a decent time (slowing down on the caffeine for instance).
Get moving during the day the way you would normally do if you had to go to the office kitchen for a coffee or to a meeting room. Stretch your body and take a small break away from your laptop a few times .
If you can get out of your apartment or house once a day while maintaining the social distancing rules, we highly recommend you do so. It’s not just about getting fresh air and get your body moving. It’s also about changing up your environment and diversifying what you see.
Handling uncertainty
When times are uncertain
Name the emotions
Name the emotions
Identify the triggers
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Notice your reactions
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Change your perspective
find evidence for and against
make percentage
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Managing negative emotions
When times are uncertain
Name the emotions
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Identify the triggers
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Notice your reactions
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Change your perspective
find evidence for and against
make percentage
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Connecting with others
When times are uncertain
Name the emotions
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Identify the triggers
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Notice your reactions
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Change your perspective
find evidence for and against
make percentage
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Connecting with others
When times are uncertain
Name the emotions
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Identify the triggers
Like in a movie, picture yourself in an environment around you where everything is paused, so you focus on the things and people as they are, rather than passing next to them without seeing them.
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Notice your reactions
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
Change your perspective
find evidence for and against
make percentage
Lift your eyeline to look at the sky and notice what is happening above your head (clouds, colours, birds and planes passing by).
Put your phone or your laptop away. Remove your headphones. Put your thoughts on the side. Don’t do anything than enjoy the present moment
In conversations, notice how much you talk and how much you listen. To listen more, pay attention to the words people use, ask more questions, look at their body language.
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