Clever Habits for a Clear Head
When you work from home, it's nearly impossible to separate your work life from home life. In the middle of work projects and caring for clients’ needs, you also need to finish the laundry, run Mom’s taxi service and make sure your people are fed.
I started working from home when my first child was born (over 20 years ago!). Throughout the years, I've worked for myself and for others. Some years I’ve homeschooled, some I’ve fostered and some years have taken care of a child in a health crisis. Over time, I have developed a system of habits and actions that help me keep my daily sanity. I’m sharing them because some of them might be helpful for someone else. Little things we can do to bring peace to our heavily scheduled days is a benefit.
These routines are things that I do, but I definitely don’t expect all of them to work for everyone. I have compiled them because there are ideas here that you can use as-is, or they might spark a variation that works well in your life. I didn’t start my work from home journey doing all of these things-- I’ve developed my routine over many years, and you will too! I hope that some of these ideas will inspire you to create the peaceful day you desire!
Rise and Shine
Get up before everyone else. It guarantees you get a shower and you have some quiet time— even if it’s a few minutes (depending on the age of your kids!). Shower and get dressed every day. That was probably the first habit I started implementing when my daughter was born and I’ve kept with it throughout many life shifts and challenges. For me, it clears my head to start the day. I don’t take long showers, but I do shower, get dressed and even put on a little mascara. Every day. For a while, when we lived full time in an RV, I showered at night, but I still woke up before everyone else and got dressed. My goal each day is to get dressed, get to the kitchen and make myself coffee before others rise (if you have a light sleeper, like my son, you have to do this step very quietly). Ideally, I even have a minute to read a devotional and journal. Life doesn’t always permit that much time, but some days it does-- and that is glorious. As my kids get older, those longer stretches of morning time happen more frequently.
Tackle the Big Stuff
When folding laundry or emptying the dishwasher, put away the biggest items first. (fold towels or sweatshirts first.) Might sound silly, but psychologically, when the big stuff is folded and done and that pile is shrinking fast, it is very motivating!
Another laundry tip: Don’t have so many laundry baskets. We currently have three people in the house and we have just one laundry basket (this keeps the clean, folded clothes from sitting in baskets in our room). When the one basket is full, I wash those clothes and put them away as soon as they are finished. For two adults and one teenager (school and work uniforms), we do a load of laundry about every other day.
Just Do It
If something can be done quickly, go ahead and do it. (put dishes in dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink, pick up random stuff as you walk by and take it where it needs to go, and put the laundry away- that kind of thing). Most of the little tasks around the house don’t take nearly as long as you think they will- and once you get in the habit, they don’t pile up, so the little tasks aren’t taking all of your time. ** This one takes some getting used to-- when you're first establishing the habit of taking care of the little things as you go, everything can jump out at you as a "need to do now" task. You'll have to pace yourself and you'll learn what tasks are "quick" and what things need to be delegated or added to your to-do list for later.
Slow and Steady Wins the Race (with clutter)
Don’t let clutter take over. Consistently put it away. Throw stuff away. Have a place for everything. Toys go in buckets or baskets in each room.
Fill the Gaps
Insert short tasks in the “in between” times— if a project doesn’t take as long as you thought or you are waiting for something (like an answer from a coworker or client)— make a call, schedule an appointment, delete spam emails- just something that needs to be checked off the list.
I also use those small breaks to move laundry over or just get up and go get the mail. There are those days that you realize you’ve been sitting at your desk too long and you just have to get up!
When making a meal plan, write the events of the day on the plan so you can know if it needs to be a crock pot, quick meal or even a takeout night based on your plans for the evening. I usually do my weekly meal plan on Sundays so I can get the school and work schedules from everyone. We try to have family dinners as often as possible, so this helps a lot!
Make a Note
Make sure you have an open notebook on your desk all the time. I use a big desk blotter notepad— when multitasking, you need a place to write quick notes. You can transfer them to something later, but keep the random notes in the same place so you know where to look when you can’t remember where you wrote something down. This is particularly handy when you’ve got kids at home while you’re working. You can write down that thought as you turn your focus away and then get back to it when you return. I use post it notes for this as well and will just stick it to my screen when I get up-- so when I get back I know where I left off.
Speaking of post it notes, if you use a Mac, use the Stickies app to organize ongoing projects on your desktop. I color code my projects and have them on my screen all the time to remind me of the big picture. I manage multiple clients at once, so this is very helpful for me to shift gears throughout the day.
Make Some Space
I try not to schedule more than one meeting per day. I have too many ongoing projects to fill up my day with meetings, and having too many scheduled appointments doesn’t leave room for fires or down time.
I hope this list helped spark some ideas for you for your own clever habits. Multitasking can quickly become chaotic without a plan. Before jumping in to do all the things at once, think through the rhythm of your day and begin to work out a plan that includes productive habits that can help you tackle the tasks without derailing your focus (and energy). We're aiming for peace in productivity-- enjoying the satisfaction of keeping things running smoothly. Give yourself grace and know that some days are just going to be more productive than others-- and if things didn't get done today... well, that's what the perpetual to-do list is for. More on that later!