Self-quarantine Survival Tips (from someone who does it for a living)

If you’re currently under self-quarantine and working from home: Welcome to my world. This is my life. I mostly work from home. I know the big difference here is that up until now, it was a choice, but generally I love working from home. That’s not to say, sometimes it doesn’t get tricky. I mean, it’s me. And my head. Alone. We don’t get on very well sometimes. Anyway, being at home a lot – and being productive – took some getting used to and I’m still not perfect at it, but I’m kind of finding my rhythm.
Anyway, here are my 5  little tips that might be helpful to you:

1)Move all the treats to the back of the fridge.

Out of sight, so when you continue to circle it like a shark and open it to see if anything’s moved, the sub-conscious temptation to have “just one” of those yummy, highly anticipated “rewards”, will be slightly more conscious as you’ll have to dig past the “oh-yeah-I-should-be-eating-that-instead” celery to get to it.

2)Be (semi) structured with your time.

But don’t beat yourself up if you’re not sitting at your desk ready to work at precisely the allotted time. I have a list and I set goals, rather than time. I often re-write my list midday if need be. I try and do the hardest thing first to get it out of the way. If there’s something more time sensitive, I do that.

3) Take small breaks. Walk around the block or something.

Reset every now and then. It’s easy to miss things after a while and get stuck in a loop without progressing. A little change in scenery can help break it and you’ll come back to whatever you’re working on with fresh eyes.

4) Talk to people. Not just your cat (or dog).

The less time I spend without being around people, the less I want to be around people. This is not necessarily a good thing for me as it leaves my head to its own devices. I fight this urge by connecting with people. Picking up the phone. Even when I really, really, really don’t feel like it (which I mostly don’t).

5) Wear pants. Sometimes.

I’m always amazed at how productive one can be while still in ones pjs, BUT then, I have this tendency to wear them until 7pm at which point, it seems like changing out of them just for a few hours before I change back into them to go to bed, seems pointless.
Then what happens is the thought of going out and having to put on less comfortable pants seems even less appealing. So I’ve learned to save myself the back and forth and get dressed when I get up. (I know, I’m such a big girl getting dressed all by myself now)