How to Create a WFH Schedule
Hello Homebodies!
I’ve been putting off this post because I was hoping something (anything!) would change for the better. But alas, here we are! And here we’ll stay because we ‘bout to be in this bish for a while. Since I’m all about focusing on what you can control, let’s talk schedules. For all my anxieties surrounding corona, I was ecstatic about not having to submit myself to a city that is basically comprised of a billion germs. I was also pumped to get a bit of a break- emphasis on the A BIT. Because I had it in my mind that it would only last for two weeks… and fiftyleven days later here we are.
We’re craving normality and we don’t know what to do with the fact that normal no longer lives here but we still do. So what to do in this situation? Get creative! Here’s an opportunity to make things better than what it was so let’s take it. But to do that, we gotta get it together.
Part One-What makes a schedule?
What are you doing now?
How are you supposed to change things if you don’t know what you’re working with in the first place? Get some paper, and record everything you do all day for a week-when you feel most energized, when you’re the most productive, what you start doing when you’re bored or tired. What day of the week you’re at your best and which one you’re at your worst. This will be your baseline. And be SPECIFIC. Set a timer for every hour and be brutally honest with yourself. Did you spend 45 minutes in a YouTube rabbit hole watching kitchen renovation videos for a kitchen you either don’t have or have no interest in renovating? Write it down. Did you get distracted by your super magnified vanity mirror and explored every single pore you have on your face? Write it down. Did you do absolutely nothing for a full 60 minutes? (If so, that’s v impressive) Don’t be shy, write it down.
What do you have to do? What do you need to do?
Now that we have a baseline of how we are currently spending our time, let’s create inventory of what we have to do. I know that all I really got to do is stay black and die, but there are bunch of things that I really should do every day, every week, every month, to stay sane, clean, and healthy. That means work, workouts, chores, cooking, doctor appointments, checking your finances, buying groceries, all that good stuff- put that in one column. (Seem like a lot? It is-humans are needy). In a separate column, put what you need to do. Sleep. Eat. Hydrate.
““All I really got to do is stay black and die””
What do you want to do?
Now that you’ve listed what you HAVE to do, let’s get to the important part- what you WANT to do with this extra bit of time and flexibility that shelter-in-place gave us. Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel? Be optimistic and realistic- because you want to create a schedule you can keep up with, one that sticks. What was it that you kept saying you’d do if you had the time? Learn a language? Find a hobby? Start running? Read more? Organize the house? Pick ONE. If you have a bunch, make a list, prioritize, and focus on one at a time. Since times are weird and we’re under a lot of stress that is vaguely ominous but also ambiguous and hard to pin down, I’d make sleep the first (and arguably the most important) project. Trying to get anything done with an exhausted body and mind is futile so if you do ANYTHING during quarantine, fixing your sleep habits will be the most productive and life changing, no matter what the insta ‘gurus’ say.
Part Two Soon Come
Since you should be gathering your baseline data for about a week, I decided to stop pressuring myself to write this whole post in one go- So you go do your work and I’ll do mine and we’ll meet back here in a week. And break!
