Working from home may still seem alien to many people across the UK and focusing on a full day of work can be a difficult task. The team at Media Waypoint are all working from home and would like to share some of their top tips on how they have adjusted to working from home life.
Structure and Routine
Get up and start you day like you would if you were planning on going to the office. Have a shower, get dressed and set up your workspace, preferably in a room that’s not the bedroom, giving yourself a few minutes to get settled before starting your day. This will help to set the mood for the rest of the day, making you feel more like you’re in your office than sat in your living room or spare bedroom.
Dedicated Work Space
Create a space for yourself that is away from the usual places you relax when you’re not working. This will subconsciously help you get into the correct frame of mind for your work day. If possible, try to find an area that isn’t too cramped so that you can surround yourself with notebooks, laptops, tablets and anything else you would use whist at work. Getting up from your space and eating lunch elsewhere will also help as it will allow you regroup and prepare yourself for an afternoon of working.
Keep in touch with the team
With video calling software such as Zoom, Google Meetings and Microsoft Teams and messaging services like Slack, it’s easy to keep in touch with your team throughout the day. Making sure you’re in constant contact with your team will help you feel connected, whilst also making sure you’re all on the same page when it comes to individual workloads.
Organise your workload
Working from home, relaxing at home, eating at home … doing everything in one space can most definitely make you feel like you have far too much on your plate and no way of escaping. Write a do list for the next day, it can help to group together your tasks, doing similar tasks together to make it easier to complete your work.
Wind Down
Its easy to forget the importance of winding down after work when you’re in your home environment. However, it’s important to make sure you step away from your workspace at the end of the day, turning everything off so you can’t be tempted to spend all evening working away. Go for an evening walk to clear your mind and get some much needed fresh air before sitting down with a gripping book or a great Netflix series. Help yourself to relax so you can get a good nights sleep and be prepared for what tomorrow brings.
Top Tips To Boost Your Creativity
For the better part of a year we have had to stay indoors, not doing the things that we usually might that helps fill our imaginations and boost are creativity. This can make it difficult for us to come up with new ideas for social content, editorial writing and so much more. Here are some top tips to help you stay creative during the lockdown:
1. Take a photo everyday – Keeping a photo diary can help your brain be on the continuous lookout for that perfect shot.
2. Keep a journal – When we’ve not been out and about, it can be difficult to think of things to write about and every content writers worst nightmare is writers block. Get yourself a journal and start jotting down snippets of your day. It may not be the most interesting content but it will help your brain to stay focused.
3. Talk with your team – having someone else to brain storm with helps to kick start your ideas into action.
4. Relax (and watch a movie) – Taking the time to relax will give your mind that much needed rest. Putting on a movie or reading a book while relaxing can be great inspiration and might just get those creative juices flowing.
5. Go for a walk – Take a stroll through your neighbourhood, you might just see something that will spike your creative side.
