Here at live-work-play, Sheri has worked at home for nineteen years. Yes!! 19 years!! What makes this work for her?
A separate dedicated office: Sheri only works in the office and not elsewhere in the home. If she is in the office she is working. If she is not in the office, she is not working. If you do not have a space you can dedicate, maybe it is a corner with a screen or curtain around it.
A schedule: Sheri works Monday through Friday and generally works 9am to 6pm although she may start as early as 7am somedays. When it is time to stop, it is time to stop and enjoy some other activity or down time.
Ritual: Sheri gets dressed for work…no working in the pajamas…. She has a morning routine to complete before she starts working.
Pretend the office is in another location: It’s as if Sheri is an office in another neighborhood or downtown. She is usually not accessible to friends and family during her workday unless it is planned in advance or is an emergency.
Comfort: Sheri’s office has ergonomic features like a sit- stand desk and a vertical mouse. Ergonomics and comfort are a priority.
Schedule activities to get out of the house during non-work hours: Well, we can’t do that right now, but you can schedule a phone call or zoom chat or a walk outside or hang out in the garden or park (6′ apart)
What has changed lately? Sheri started using zoom for meetings, and also using a document camera to sketch while in a zoom meeting.
