My Work From Home Routine Intro
I’ll be honest, my work from home routine doesn’t really resemble anything like an aesthetically pleasing YouTube video.
There’s so many ‘this will change your life’ routine ideas out there that you’d spend all day trying to cram them in.
The most important thing you can do in my opinion is to create a work from home routine that works for you, catered to your individual needs and goals.
Stretching
Being 36, I’ve found that back pain is not just a rumour once you hit your 30’s! I’ve had increasing tension in my upper back, especially since I’ve been WFH more often.
To counter this, and a lack of movement throughout the day, I always start my day with 15 minutes of stretching, nothing too crazy, and I don’t even do it every day, perhaps 3x a week. It makes a big difference and starts my day off with something I feel productive and worthwhile.
Here’s a few of the top stretches I do that target the classic WFH tension that can build being sedentary for too long. More at backintelligence.com
Water/Coffee
After getting limber, It’s time to get my George Clooney on and head over to the Nespresso (what else!) machine.
I’ve read in a few places that holding out until mid to late morning to have your first coffee works best.
Normally, I can’t wait, the endorphin boost a good coffee gives me helps me tackle the morning inbox with a bit more gusto.
Not a coffee person? I suppose the old adage of 2 litres of water per day, depending on your climate, is a good liquid consumption goal for the day.
My fitness tracker gives me a nice reminder to keep hydrated throughout the day, which can help with focus and productivity.
Work From Home Planner
Take control of your day with this simple to use planner
Breakfast
I’m a bit of a late/minimal eater when it comes to the working week and ‘the most important meal of the day.’ A protein bar, apple and handful of blueberries usually suffices.
I recently added a powdered greens supplement to my diet in the morning which seems to be doing a good job of making me feel good and helping me get closer to my 5 a day.
A browse through your emails whilst eating breakfast can be a good time to get ahead of the curve and gradually transition your mind from morning mode, to full on work mode.
Planning The Day
I’m a bit of an erratic thinker when it comes to work, one thing that works really well for me to keep me aligned is to make a list of 5 small wins I can tackle throughout the day.
No matter what I do throughout the day, if I tick off those 5 by 5 then it will be a productive day.
I’ll also put in some focus time where I don’t look at Slack/my inbox for an hour or so for a couple of spells per day, this helps me blitz the meatier pieces of work and get into a better flow.
Lunch/Run/Walk
I take lunch around 12:30. One thing I’ve been doing since the pandemic is making sure I get some fresh air. I find this really helps freshen up my mind halfway through the day and a change of scenery gives me a natural boost.
Again, I don’t do this every day, when it’s raining cats and dogs, it’s off the cards, but 3 times a week is hugely beneficial to my state of mind when working remote from home.
I’ll then grab a bite to eat and respond to Whatsapp messages, if I can’t get outside, even just moving to another room for half an hour helps.
End Of Working Day
After finishing at 5, or sometimes later (if the grind is really on!), I’ll relax and watch some TV for about an hour to escape my laptop – I’m probably overdoing it with the screen time.
Perhaps my parents were right and my eyes will turn square, I’ll ask the optometrist next visit.
After a snack and grabbing another coffee it’s back to the laptop.
Blogging
The next 3 hours I’ll spend working on this blog, writing, coming up with ideas; undertaking some website maintenance. The work that goes into it is infinitely greater than I ever could have imagined.
To boot, I also run a skincare blog with my partner for anyone that’s interested in the beauty industry.
My current situation, ie no kids, gives me a fair amount of free time to devote to a side hustle.
If you’re interested in looking into ideas for additional income/projects, check out the blog post on the Top Ways To Make Money From Home.
Work From Home Routine Conclusion
That’s it, I guess there’s nothing groundbreaking in here that’s going to revolutionize my life in a week.
My mantra is that slow and steady wins the race and if I can make my life 1% better each week, then by the end of the year I’ll be in pretty good shape just based on compound interest.
If you like that approach or want a few more ideas, Atomic Habits by James Clear comes highly recommended.
James Waite
Founder of Remoteopia, James has worked in remote roles for 6 years. After a stint in recruitment, he now works as a director of website strategy in tech.
