Joe Houghton’s top tips for keeping the focus on top of things mentally as we all adjust to working at home
It’s ok not to be ok all the time!
- Try to start and end your day with “you time”
- Get up and do some exercise, meditate, take a walk, have a long hot bath with candles…
- If you can do this at lunch too, great!
- Negotiate some you time with your partner, family, housemates
- But I live on my own…
- Use video as much as possible to see other people when calling them – Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom – there are lots of free ways to video-call
- This takes effort initially but will really help you feel less isolated Introduce some noise – open a window, have the radio on playing music
- Make calls every day to contacts, colleagues or friends and family
- Don’t be a news junkie
- I limit my exposure to news to 30 minutes reading the news as I have breakfast.
- No TV news – it’s all sensationalist & designed to focus on the awful news
- Same with the radio – tune in to happy music, not news!
- And turn off all “news” notifications on your devices
- Go easy on the alcohol
- Whatever your stimulants, take it easy – save these for a treat rather than them becoming a habit…
- Work
- We’re all at home, but if you have a job, do it. Work provides us with purpose, a routine, and this is important for our mental well-being if we can engage and focus
- But recognise that we are all going through a form of grief – loss of our “normality” at present, so don’t expect to be fully productive
- And support your bosses, colleagues & friends who are also going through all the same feelings you are – we’re all people!
- Work Out of a job? Facing hard times?
- That shock is always tough, but you HAVE to start to look at options
- What opportunities do you now have that you might pursue?
- How might you reach out to your network for help?
- Is there something you’ve always wanted to try or do – maybe now is that time…
Joe Houghton is an Assistant Professor & Programme Director teaching Project Management at the UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business in Dublin, Ireland.