One month.

So far it’s been one month since I’ve been officially working from home.

As a working dad with a working dad’s perspective (which is the whole purpose of this blog), I’ve learned a few things about working from home. I’m by no means an expert, but I’m grateful for this change in routine, as I reflected on last month.

The novelty of the Quarantine Life is beginning to wane as the schools in our part of the country have officially been shut down for the rest of the year. For work, trips have been postponed, events have been cancelled, and we have all learned firsthand just how valuable face to face communication is. Zoom, Skype, and other video conferencing tools have been adequate substitutes, but they are not eternal replacements.

I’m not sure what it will look like once we are ready to return to work, but I have notified my coworkers that there will be some in-person hugs coming their way. Sorry to the HR department. Until then, I’m soaking in this new experience and trying to learn as much as I can.

So, here are the top 5 practical tips I’ve learned while working from home. Hopefully these tips can help you in your new work environment as well.

1. Grace!

                I can’t stress this one enough. I need more grace from my wife and kids. I need to give more grace to my wife and kids, and we all need more grace from God. I’ve actually begun praying that God would cover my gaps with His grace. This quarantine has revealed many gaps.

It’s easy to let the situation dictate my emotions, and thus, my responses. If I’m feeling stressed, I will respond with stress. If I’m feeling depressed, I will respond depressively. But, if I’m feeling gracious, then I will respond with grace. I can’t do this on my own, but thankfully, we don’t have to. We can all use an extra portion of grace during this time, so let’s share it in excess with each other.

2. Have a dedicated work space you can enter… And exit

                We recently moved, and we are fortunate enough to have a room that we can use as a playroom/office. Little did we know it would primarily become my office in the short term. It has been SO HELPFUL to have a space that I can walk into, shut the door, and get into work mode. That is typically what the commute to work is for…transitioning into work mode. Obviously, the commute exists only as long as it takes me to get up the stairs, but having a separate space to work in helps me keep my mind focused on the right things.

Then, when I need a break or it’s time to be done, it is critical that I can do more than simply shut my laptop. I can physically “leave work” by leaving the room. Even though I return later in the evening to play with the kids, knowing I already left, makes it easier to shut my “work brain” off. Though, truth be told, I generally have a hard time shutting my brain off, being able to leave the room does buy me a little bit of time before my brain keeps going.

3. Use an uncomfortable chair to force yourself to get up

                I totally stumbled upon this one by accident. We had a chair at the desk in my office that was small so that it would fit the small space. It was never intended to be a solution for working full time from home, but it had indirectly forced me to get up more frequently so I’m forced to stretch my legs, get a drink, and get my blood flowing. It’s small, and it’s hard plastic. Getting up and moving helps keep my blood flowing, which helps keep my brain active and mind moving quickly.

4. Snooze tools on your devices are more important than ever

                Working from home fulltime forced me to be more intentional about utilizing the snooze tools on my devices. Before, I would just let my phone ding or vibrate whenever an email hit my inbox. Little did I realize, I was like Pavlov’s dogs and would reach for my phone at every little buzz or ring. Now, I have set specific snooze times on the email app I use so it doesn’t notify me at all when I’m supposed to be “home.” The benefits of this have been greater than I realized. It’s made the evenings and weekends feel like they last longer (or maybe that’s just the quarantine), and it has made my attention span on the time with my kids more intentional.

5. Take advantage and Play!!

                I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that there have been some days where lunch was a bit more than hour and may or may not have involved an impromptu football game in the backyard or a bicycle riding lesson. I think it’s important that my kids understand that I’m still working fulltime. But I also think it’s important that I’m not too inflexible that I can’t show them they are a priority by making what’s important to them a focus of my time in the middle of the day. A little extra play time and attention can go a long way in helping them feel affirmed and important, and help my own mental health and well-being so I can function better as a husband, dad, and worker. After all, there are pros and cons to every different working environment. It would be negligent not to practice some of the pros of working from home too.

I would love to hear if any of these tips resonated with you, or if you have some tips you have learned on your own. Share them and let’s make each other better!

#daddylessons