Afford Anything - PSA Thursday: 31 Tips to Stay Productive as you Work From Home

Episode Date: April 16, 2020

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Hey, welcome to PSA Thursday where we share tips on how to cope with work, money, and life during the pandemic. My name is Paula Pant. I'm the host of the Afford Anything podcast. Today we will be talking about tips for staying productive when you're working from home. But first, okay, I got to, I just, I have to share the story with you. So like 10 minutes ago, I get a text message from a reporter at Channel 8 News, which is the local CBS affiliate television news station in Las Vegas, where I live. I know this reporter because last week, she interviewed me for a segment where I went on Channel 8 and I talked about my experience of having COVID-19. So they did this story that was like, you know, local girl gets COVID-19, shares her experience of what it was like. Standard local news story. They air it on the 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news. And in an ideal world, that would be that. That would be the end of the story. But 10 minutes ago, I get a text from her, and she sends me a link to a breaking news story that they've just published, which pertains to the urgent care clinic where I got my COVID-19 test.

And here's what the article says. The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health has issued a cease and desist order to an unlicensed laboratory in Las Vegas. After looking into a substantiated complaint, an investigation, and an unannounced visit to the site, the division found that the laboratory at Sahara Urgent Care and Wellness was operating without a license and was collecting patient specimens and performing lab tests. The lab, located at 6125 Sahara Avenue Suite 1B in Las Vegas, was using a serological test to test for COVID-19. According to the DPPH, quote, serology tests are not to be used for diagnostic purposes, and any serological test at Sahara West Urgent Care and Wellness would not have a definitive result for the purposes of diagnosing COVID-19.

Patients are urged to contact their health care provider to determine if further testing is necessary. The division ordered that Sahara West Urgent Care and Wellness immediately notify all their patients and inform them that their test results are not valid for the purpose of a definitive diagnosis of COVID-19. According to the division, Nevada revised statutes prohibits the operation of a medical laboratory without first obtaining a license from DPBH, which licenses laboratories that perform diagnostic medical laboratory tests in accordance with federal and state standards.

An ongoing investigation is underway, and no further information will be provided until the investigation is complete. So, what? So, so, so, what? Like, what? Like, I went to an urgent care clinic that was performing drive-thru

COVID-19 testing, and it turned out to be an unlicensed lab that got a cease and desist from the state. Like, what? This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Yeah.

I know that there are, because everything is changing so rapidly, there are a lot of scams out there related to coronavirus, related to COVID-19. But I figured that most of those scams would be financial scams. I never imagined that there would be deceptive practices happening at urgent care clinics and at testing sites. but when a medical facility is misrepresenting the tests that they are administering, when it's presented under the guise of a diagnostic test, even though it's not, and when they're running these tests out of an unlicensed lab, I mean, I am neither a medical nor a legal expert, but I am pretty certain that's frowned upon. By the way, I pulled up a copy of my lab report,

which is titled Extended Respiratory Pathogen Panel, And then I went to the website of the lab that produced the report that had my positive test result, Clarity Lab Solutions. They're based in Florida. So just to be clear, there are two different labs in this story. There's the lab at the urgent care clinic in Las Vegas, and that is the unlicensed one that got the cease and desist. And then there is a different lab in Florida, which is the lab that produced the report with my results. According to their information, they gave me a malice. test, which is not the same as a serology test. A molecular test is given during infection,

whereas a serology test is given after infection to check for antibodies. So it seems as though the serology test that was described in the Channel 8 News report does not apply to me. I received a molecular test. And according to their website, they say that they're testing, quote, pinpoints the COVID-19 virus, along with a number of other respiratory viruses and pneumonia-causing bacteria, so that physicians can render treatment swiftly and accurately, possibly reducing the severity and duration of infection, end quote. And then they also say, with regards to accuracy, here's what they say, quote, is accurate 89 to 100% of the time when the patient has a high viral infection, but fails between 40 to 69% of the time when the patient's viral infection is above or below the

established sensitivity of the screen. So given the fact that the test was administered to me when I was at my peak sickest, I mean, when I went for drive-through testing, I went there with a high fever and a cough. And I was sitting in that car. I could feel my fever spiking because I was shivering. So I was just sitting in the car like shivering and shaking and I cranked up the heat to like the maximum that it would go and put all of the air vents directly on me. And I have seat heaters in my car. I turned those on too. And I was still just shivering and shaking because my fever was spiking. And when I got home from taking the test and I took my temperature, I was 102.3 degrees. And then the next day I was 102.8. And so when I took it, I was at the peak of

being sick. It was during that sickest week of a multi-week recovery. And so my personal, untrained, unsubstantiated opinion is that I think my test results were right. I was so sick at the time that I think that their tests accurately detected that I had COVID-19 and produced a positive test result. But wow. Like, I'm trying to come up with some sort of a lesson or a key takeaway, from this, but I just got hit with this news, so I haven't had time to process it yet. The irony of it all is that in a previous episode, I described how much I struggled to get a telemedicine appointment when I was sick and how much I struggled to find a test. And there was a week, a period of a week in which I consistently had.

had a temperature that was above 102 degrees and often above 103 degrees. And during that time, I couldn't get a telemedicine appointment. I couldn't get a test. And these people, Sahara West urgent care, were the only people who provided that. This urgent care clinic, which now has a cease and desist from the state, were the only people who would help me. So I have really mixed feelings about all of this. And at a time when I was coughing so hard, and so much that I was genuinely afraid that I was going to fracture a rib. That's how hard I was coughing. You know, it was at that time when I couldn't get through to any medical professionals,

and they were the ones, they were the only ones who actually called me. You know, and they were the ones who wrote me a prescription for promethazine and vertussin and an albuterol inhaler. And I'm sure that those things helped with the cough. And so they gave me that help that I needed at the time that I needed it. And they did that when no one else could or would. And so my feelings about them are like, well, sorry to hear that you were operating without a license and got shut down by the state. But also, thank you for treating me when no one else could or would. Like, thank you for being my last remaining hope.

And I just, I stand back and I look at that and I'm, is this what we've come to? Hey, bummer you weren't licensed, but thanks for seeing me. Really, that's what we've come to. And to be clear, it was only the laboratory that was unlicensed. So I'm sure that the professionals, the providers were all properly licensed and credentialed. and they were knowledgeable and they provided great service. So I don't want to make this a bigger thing than it is, but I'm sorry, when you get a cease and desist from the state, that is kind of a big deal. I guess if there's a takeaway to any of this, it's learn about some of the most common financial scams that are happening right now related to COVID-19, related to coronavirus, so that you can protect yourself against at,

least some of those. Clark Howard has excellent content on scams. We will link to some of his stuff in the show notes. Clark Howard has done an amazing job. He's a podcast host and a radio show host. He's a consumer advocate. He's just a stand-up guy. He's the real deal. I've met him several times, and he walks the walk. He talks the talk. He's a very high integrity person in the world of personal finance influencers, and he has really good content on financial scams. So in the show notes, which you can find at Afford Anything.com slash PSA Thursday, you can find all of our show notes for every PSA Thursday episode at that link. But in the show notes, we'll link to some of Clark Howard's content around protecting yourself from financial scams. So, well, with that

introduction, let's move on to the topic of today's episode, which is 31.1.3.1.5.5.5.5. productivity tips if you're working from home. We created a free e-book. It is more than 100 pages long. Don't worry. They're like bright, colorful pages with big font, so it's a quick read. But we created a free e-book with these 31 productivity tips so that you can have your own beautiful, well-organized written copy of all of these tips that you're about to hear.

You can download this at afford-anything.com slash productive. Again, that's afford anything.com slash productive for this free ebook, which will serve as a great reminder for how to stay focused, how to stay on task, how to get stuff done, even when you're working from home. Now, before we launch into these tips, I first want to address a comment that's come up several times, so I posted on the Afford Anything Facebook page that this week's episode would be all about productivity tips. And several people said, hey, you know what? We're in the middle of a crisis. Life isn't about being productive right now. So I want to address that. First of all, oh yeah, I agree.

Like, first, to be clear, I am not saying that by the end of this pandemic, you should be fluent in Mandarin and skilled at playing the oboe despite never having picked one up before. What I'm talking about is, to quote one of my favorite movies, office space, you, at a minimum, you got to work just hard enough to not get fired. And right now, a lot of people are struggling with even that.

So that's the first thing. Second, you might, I don't know, have deadlines and deliverables. You might have clients and expectations that you need to meet. And if you work on projects in a team, your colleagues might be relying on you to deliver a certain level of progress in a specified amount of time, which they're depending on you to produce that so that they can do their jobs. They're waiting on response from you

so that they can take the next steps forward because you're a team and you're collaborating on a project. So yeah, sure, you can say life isn't about being productive right now, but if you have a job, you still got to do your job. And again, the basics, the fundamentals of doing your job can really be a struggle at a time like this. You know, you think of how many people are struggling to maintain focus right now. Maybe your kids are home all day. Maybe you have a parent or a grandparent in a nursing home and you are worried and stressed out about what might happen to them.

Maybe a lot of people are struggling to maintain sobriety right now because they can't go to an AA meeting in person or another 12-step meeting in person. And sure, they can meet on Zoom. but it's not the same thing. So there are a lot of demons that people are battling right now and a lot of very valid worries and anxieties about what's going to happen. And in the midst of all of that, if you have a job, you still have to do your job.

So how do you do it when the environment around you is set up to distract you? That's why we're talking about, tips to be productive, it's not to chastise you if you didn't spend this time composing an orchestral score. It's to help you take care of the things you're responsible for taking care of and get through the day. And third point, if you're self-employed or if you're a freelancer or a solopreneur, you've got to hustle right now, especially as opportunities are drying up. You don't have a steady W-2 salary. You don't have a bi-weekly paycheck. If you're not productive, you don't get paid.

So if you're self-employed and you do not have sufficient passive income to be able to pay your basic bills, then to be productive or not to be productive. That's not a choice. You don't produce, you don't eat. And then fourth, and finally, I want to close out this preface to the 31 tips with this beautiful quote that was said by Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, It's only three words. Idleness exhausts me. I love the sound of that. It's such beautiful language.

And it's also an insightful message. If you're in the slumps, and I'm not talking about if you're clinically depressed, I'm talking about if you just feel a little lethargic or you feel cranky or you're feeling icky, your dragon, your low energy, productivity can be good for your spirit. It can lift you out of the doodrums.

it infuses you with the joy of making progress and of creating something and bringing that creation out into the world. So with that said, here are 31 tips for staying productive as you work from home. And I know I said the PSA Thursday episodes weren't going to have any sound effects, but if I'm reading a list of 31 tips, there's going to be sound effects to provide an audio transition between each tip. It's just a better show that way. So, here we go. Tip number one.

Wear pants. Yeah, seriously, get dressed for work. Wear the same professional clothing that you would wear if you were physically at the office. Get dressed like it's 2019. And if you typically change into a lounging at home outfit after you return home from the office, continue the same habit at home because changing clothes marks the transition from work hours to home hours. Number two, maintain your normal morning routine. Keep the same morning habits that you had back in January. Wake up at the same time as you used to. Sure, you don't have a commute anymore, so you don't need to wake up that early. But maintaining your routine helps you stay in a productive mindset. And since you have all of that extra time in the morning, use it to work out, practice yoga, write in your journal, meditate, read. Pray, talk to your family, play with your dog.

These are all much better uses of your time than what you used to spend commuting. Now, there is one exception to this maintain your normal morning routine thing. In episode 188 of this podcast, we interviewed Daniel Pink, who is the author of a book called When, The Scientific Secrets to Perfect Timing. He shares that 20% of people are night owls. They function best at night, and they struggle in the nine to five. work world because the external world just isn't set up for night owls. So if you are in the 20% of the population that is naturally just wired to be a night owl, then forget the whole maintain your morning routine thing.

Enjoy this opportunity to work during the hours that are best suited to your brain and your body's natural rhythm. So if you want to hear that full interview, that is at afford anything.com slash episode 1-88. Tip number three, start work at a specific time of day. If your workday at the office started at 9 a.m., maintain that same start time when you're working from home. And treat this with the same level of urgency as you did before. You'll be late for work if you're not there by the designated time. And again, the exception to this is night owls. So listen to episode 188 for the down. Number four, have a designated desk that's strictly for work. If you have a spare room

that you can repurpose as a home office, that's even better. But don't worry if you don't have that kind of space. Maintaining a desk rather than working from your couch or from the kitchen table can help get you into a better workflow and a better headspace. Now, that being said, don't be afraid to move to different corners of your house throughout the day. So if you love the afternoon sunlight as it streams through the window in this nook of your living room. Bring your work documents there and spend an hour or two sitting in that bay window in the sunlight reading those documents for work. Travel to the far reaches of your house to get changes in scenery. So have a desk, but don't be glued to it. Tip number five,

call a family meeting and establish the understanding that you should not be interrupted during normal working hours. Tell your family that from 9 to 5 or whatever hours you work, they shouldn't talk to you or interrupt you at work with the exception of your lunch break. Now, don't expect perfect compliance from your family because it's tough to avoid talking to somebody who's there. But setting these expectations can reduce the frequency of interruptions, particularly among the adult members of your household.

Number six, create a special signal to indicate to your family when you're performing deep work in a flow state. If your job requires you to block out time for hyper-focused deep work, such as writing or coding, or any kind of creating, communicate this to your family with some type of special signal so that they know that this is flow state time. Now, if you have your own home office, a private room that you use to work, the easiest signal is to close the door. But not everybody has that kind of space. So if you're working from a a desk that's jammed into a corner of the hallway, then have some type of signal, either play specific music or wear a particular shirt or hat, that your family understands

is a signal for, don't interrupt me because this is, I'm in the flow right now. So this is the most important time to not be interrupted. If you're a writer, you know how it is, when you're in that flow state where words are just flowing out of your fingertips and you don't even know what you're writing, you're just watching the screen to see what your fingertips are going to say. That is a hard state to achieve. Once you're there, it's glorious. So once you're there, it's particularly important that you don't get pulled out of that.

And that's the message that you need to communicate to anybody who lives in your household who might not get that. So that's tip number six. Tip number seven. Move your body throughout the day. If you only travel the path between your desk and your kitchen, you need to add new routes to your routine. So if you can safely take a walk outside, schedule time in your day to go into nature. Otherwise, have an impromptu dance party in your living room in the middle of the day, or find a workout routine on YouTube, or run around your yard if you have one with your family. When you notice that you're starting to feel sluggish, that's your cue to get up and move.

Number eight Silence distractions Whether they're from your phone or from your neighbor Filter out noise by using noise-canceling headphones You don't need to buy a super expensive pair You can achieve the same effect with noise reduction ear muffs Like the type that they sell at Home Depot or lows That are meant to be worn by people who are operating chainsaws

Or pushing a lawnmower In the resources mentioned In our show notes We will link to some super cheap earmuffs that get the job done. They filter out noise and they don't cost a lot. You can find the show notes at Afford Anything.com slash PSA Thursday. And like I said, you can download a free ebook with all of these tips at Affordanithing.com slash productive. But to continue on with tip number eight, which is silence distractions,

if you don't need to take work calls or if you don't receive texts from me, your colleagues. Then put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode while you're working, or leave your phone in another room so that you're not tempted to grab it. So that is tip number eight, silence distractions. Tip nine, design a workspace that inspires you and motivates you to work. Most people don't work well when they're surrounded by clutter. Keep your workspace clean, minimalist, and at the end of the day, clear anything that accumulated. Add fun things to that workspace, like a picture of your family or your pets, a quote that you love, greenery, art, like infuse that space with your style. You're going to be sitting there for eight hours a day.

You may as well like looking at it. Tip number 10. Signal to yourself when you're done working for the day. Ideally, having a separate office is great because you can close the door and leave your work behind you. But if you don't have that space, close your laptop or shut down your computer and tell yourself that you're done with work as you're doing it because the point of that is to signal to your brain that you are ending the work day. You could also make a tomorrow to-do list that allows you to brain dump everything that you need to tackle tomorrow because writing

these tasks down at the end of the day can free your mind from ruminating on them later in the evening. Creating the separation between work and home is key to working from home. The goal of all of these tips is to compartmentalize. Without that separation, you might be tempted to continue working or you might endlessly think about work. And that's not healthy. So give your mind a break so that you can come back refreshed the next day. Number 11.

Schedule virtual meetings with your friends and family outside of work hours so that you have something to look forward to once you're done with your workday. Having these types of social dates in your calendar can also help motivate you to get your work done because without external obligations, it's easy to get carried away and to make work your entire world and to dally and dawdle

and to take six hours to do something that you otherwise could have done in three hours if you had been more focused at the time in which you were doing it. And having things on your calendar can motivate that focus. You know you have to get this thing done by this particular deadline

because at 6 o'clock you have virtual Zoom happy hour with your friends. That's going to motivate you to get the thing done by 6 o'clock rather than like dallying and letting it linger all the way until 9, 10, 11 in the evening. So yes, what I'm saying is, counterintuitively, virtual Zoom happy hour with your friends can increase productivity. Tip number 12. Clean your home outside of work hour. This is so hard to do.

I struggle with this one all the time because if there is a pile of dishes in the sink, if there's a pile of dirty laundry, if the recycling needs to be taken out, if there's a bunch of clutter on the kitchen countertops, I feel like, oh, I can't start work until I get these chores done. But as podcast guest Laura Vandercam said, chores expand to fill the time you give them. It's Parkinson's law. So designate a specific block of time for chores. Again, it's all about compartmentalizing. Tip number 13.

Give yourself time to adjust and to adapt. So if the first or second or even third iteration of a routine doesn't work for you, keep experimenting because what works for some people might not work for you. And what works for you now might not work for you in a few weeks. weeks. Figuring out how to manage yourself, figuring out how and when you work best, that's difficult and it doesn't happen overnight. And it can change depending on a number of factors. Keep a log of what you've tried, what you've observed, and adjust based on that information. Treat this as an ongoing experiment and stay curious. Don't beat yourself up if you don't get it

right immediately. Nobody does. Tip number 14. Install browser extensions that limit distractions. So one of my favorites is the newsfeed eradicator for Facebook. So what it does is when you go to Facebook, it hides your entire news feed and it replaces it with an inspiring quote. The result is that that removes your ability to endlessly scroll Facebook. There's no news feed there anymore. So that is a browser extension that you can download to cure you of a Facebook distraction habit. If you're the type of person who often has a ton of browser tabs open, consider downloading one tab.

So one tab takes all of your open tabs and it lists them out in one tab. This allows you to focus only on the tasks that are immediately at hand and ignore the tabs that you're saving for later. I use this and I go nuts if I have more than five tabs open maximum. Even five feels like a lot. ideally I'd have maybe two tabs, three tabs. And there's mental clarity that comes from not having too many browser tabs that are open. Sometimes I'll look at friends computers and they have two dozen browser tabs.

And I'm like, my head's going to explode. So yeah, the newsfeed eradicator for Facebook and one tab, those are two of my favorite browser extensions. But of course, there are a bunch of other ones as well that are designed to limit distractions, help you focus. So, install a bunch of those browser extensions. That's tip number 14. Tip 15. Write out a list of tasks that you need to accomplish daily for the next five days. And write this out at the beginning of the week.

As new tasks come in throughout the week, add them to the appropriate day of the week list when you plan on doing them. And at the end of each workday, review your list. And if there's anything that you didn't get to, move it to the following day. Rearranged tasks based on your projected bandwidth. That's basically a detailed way of saying plan your week in advance and iterate that plan each day. Oftentimes, when I think about my week, I look at each day and I think, all right, what is the one big thing that I want to get done that day? Because I know that there's going to be an endless amount of little things that death by a thousand paper cuts. Emails and messages and this and that and you've got to respond.

So I list out the days of the week and then I list the things. one thing that I want to make sure I get done on that day. Like today, it was recording this episode and communicating with my team about the formatting and layout of the e-book. Should it be portrait orientation or should it be landscape orientation? And what URL should people go to? And what color scheme should be used? And don't forget to put links to Clark Howard in the show notes. You know, there are all these small details to tend to that makes producing an episode much Much, much more than just being at the microphone. And so my objective for today was this episode is my one big thing for today.

And in the margins, there will be a bunch of emails and messages and social media updates, but this is the one big thing. So plan your week with an eye towards what are those big things that you need to do in order to move the ball forward. So that's tip number 15. We're halfway through. By the way, since I just mentioned the e-book, I'm going to remind you again, it's pretty sweet, and it's free, and it lists out all these tips that we are talking about. So download it for yourself, give it to a friend, print it out and use it as toilet paper, because I know that some of you were starting to run out of that by now. So you can get the gift that keeps on giving at afford anything.com slash productive. Affordanthing.com slash productive.

Tip number 16. Set up a work user account in your web browser. So there are many browsers that allow you to create multiple profiles, and you can associate different permissions, extensions, and bookmarks with each profile. This is similar to setting up different user accounts on your PC or laptop. Now, the beauty of this is that if you want to install these distraction-saving extensions that we mentioned earlier, like the Facebook News Feed Eradicator or One tab, If you want to install those on your work browser, but you don't want them to interfere with casual browsing personally, then create a new browser profile and install the extensions only on the profile that you use for work.

In the show notes, we will link to how to guides that explain step by step how to set up a new profile in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. And again, you can access the show notes at afford anything.com slash PSA Thursday. Tip number 17. Log into your computer as a different user when you're using it for work purposes. So this is an alternative to the previous tip. Instead of creating a new profile on your browser, create a new user account on your laptop or on your computer that's specifically for work. Now, you'll have to install programs that you want to use.

There will be some setup involved, But creating this new user account will allow you to start from scratch and be conscious of what programs you add and what you leave behind. And again, it will compartmentalize the use of that tool, creating a distinction between work and home. Now, when you set up this new user account, make it visually different. Choose different theme colors. Install a different wallpaper background. Have a different screensaver. So this will signal to your brain that this is not your knowledge.

normal account and it might help you get into work mode faster. So sure, you're using the same tool in both your work life and your home life. You're using the same laptop, you're using the same computer, but it looks and feels different. And that allows you to create that mental space. Tip number 18. Listen to music. Some people work better when they're listening to something. Try different types of music to see what motivates you to work the most. Some people prefer classical music, some people like upbeat tunes, some people vary depending on the type of work that they're doing, so they need something calm for deep work and something energetic for answering emails. Tip number 19. Cook your meals on the weekend so that you don't need to

prepare meals during the workday. Otherwise, and I struggle with this one a lot too, so ask me how I Otherwise, when you're working from home, it's very easy to, in the middle of the workday, like at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday, it's very easy to convince yourself, like, this is really the time that I need to make a keesh. And I'm so bad at this. They all have a pile of unread emails. And I'm like, ah, the basil on my countertop is growing pretty big. I should really trim down those plants and throw it into the food processor, make some pesto. I don't so much as cook as I cook-crastinate, and the complexity of the dish that I'm making is directly proportional to the severity of my avoidance of a particular task.

If there's something I'm really dreading and I really don't want to do, I magically morph into a Michelin-rated five-star chef. And this is the problem, the temptation. that comes when your principal place of work is 10 feet away from your kitchen. So, again, it's all about compartmentalizing. Cook your meals on the weekend, batch cook, just like you did when you were commuting to an office. Tip number 20. Find an accountability partner or a group if you're struggling to implement any of these ideas,

which we all are. With so many people transitioning to work from home jobs, it's not hard to find someone who can relate to the struggle. So if you find an accountability buddy, which our former podcast guest Mark Manson refers to as an accountability buddy, text each other at designated points throughout the day so that you can both mutually make sure that you're both staying on track, even if it's as simple as, hey, it's 9 a.m. You at your desk yet? or, hey, it's 6 p.m. Have you shut down so that you're giving yourself adequate home time as well? The fear of social embarrassment can motivate you to do the things that you said you were going to do.

So if you want to find an accountability buddy or an accountability group, afford anything.com slash community. It's free. And it is a collection of awesome people who are all members of this community, many of whom are also working from home right now for the first time. So find your accountability buddy at afford anything.com slash community. Tip number 21. Prepare your workspace with the essentials that you used back at the office. So, for example, if you had an arsenal of pens and post-it notes and a whiteboard,

you know, if you had that in your office, give yourself the same office supplies at home. Now, it might not be possible to have access to everything that you had. If you in the office used to work with expensive or unusual equipment, you could ask your employer if it's possible to have those pieces delivered to you. But if there are certain supplies that you can't get access to, think about modifications. How can you adapt them?

How can you replace them? Is there anything else that you can use that would serve the, same function, even if it's not the same item. So, making sure that you have the same office supplies at home, that is tip number 21. Tip number 22. Allow your brain to take a break about every two hours. As former podcast guest Laura Vandercam says, if you don't take a break, your brain will take one for you.

There is nothing productive or efficient about forcing yourself. to work at half capacity. If you don't take a break, eventually your brain will distract you into scrolling social media, browsing a bunch of mindless sites. Rather than do that, give yourself a real break, set an alarm or a reminder to periodically tell you that it's time to stand up, stretch, walk away from your desk, even if it's only for five minutes. Productivity is not about logging more hours in your chair at your desk. That's not productivity. That's just a butt in a chair. Productivity is being efficient and effective with the

hours that you do spend in that chair. Tip number 23. Keep small snacks at your desk that you can nibble on throughout the day because if you don't, here's what's going to happen. You're going to walk into your kitchen, and then you're going to open the fridge door, and then you're going to stand there for like two minutes looking at every item in your fridge, wondering what you should eat, then you'll take out a block of cheese, and you'll like cut a little sliver off of it, and then you'll put that back in the fridge, and then you'll continue to stand there, wondering what else you can nibble on, and then you'll notice that you have a bunch of eggs and some ham and some vegetables, and you'll think to yourself, you know, this would be the perfect time to make a kish. So, spare yourself

from wandering mindlessly into your kitchen by keeping snacks on your desk. That's tip number 23, but tip number 24 is the opposite of that. Tip number 24 is to eat your lunch away from your desk. This way, you can take a break. And by eating lunch away from your desk, you can build mental and physical separation from work. When you're at your desk, you're in work mode. When you're away from your desk, you're in rest and relaxation mode. It's all about the compartmentalization.

Tip number 25. Overcommunicate with your colleagues if you work within a team. When you are physically in a shared workspace, it's a lot easier to collaborate. Because if there's a single thought or an observation or an idea that's popped into your head that relates to a particular project that you're working on, and it's not a big deal, it's not something that would prompt you to write an urgent email. but it's still something worth bringing up for the sake of the project. When you're in a shared workspace, you can easily do that. You can pass somebody in the hallway or see them in the break room and be like, oh, hey, yeah, I meant to tell you this thing about the project, I had this observation, blah, blah, blah. When you're a remote team, you don't have what Zappo CEO Tony Shea refers to as collisions.

You don't have those collisions. You don't have the casual conversation that arises from that. And so oftentimes ideas, thoughts, observations just get stored in the heads of each individual on the team and don't get cross-communicated throughout the team. Virtual collaboration is tough. So keep your coworkers in the loop and encourage them to do the same. You know, people are often critical of meetings. You often hear people complain like, oh, I've got so many meetings. back-to-back meetings.

I'm in meetings all day, and as a result, I can't get any actual valuable work done. That's a real problem for a lot of people. But the opposite is also a huge problem. If your team is not meeting enough, if everybody is working in their own silos from their own home and no one is sharing any feedback or ideas with the rest of the team,

you might be able to execute at the daily level, but it's going to be a lot harder to run. reach monthly or quarterly or annual goals or beyond that, really, it's going to be a lot harder to have a vision for something that you want to create or some improvement that you want to make and then execute on that vision and bring it to life. You can't do that purely from writing emails and sending Slack messages alone. One of the best tips that I ever heard, someone told me, if an email is going to take more than five minutes to write, if it's going to involve more than seven or eight sentences, then just pick up the phone and call that person.

And my modification on that tip is that I'll record an audio message. So I use a Mac. I just open audacity, record an audio message, and then email it to Aaron or Steve or Zach, to the people who are on the Afford Anything team. And that single thing, that single habit It has, I'm certain, saved me hundreds of hours at this point because I had been doing it for a while. So recording an audio message and emailing it, it's like the text messaging of audio in that if you call somebody on the phone, you might be interrupting them. Both of you have to be free to talk at the same time with an audio message. You send it at your convenience. They hear it at their convenience.

There are also two apps that I know of that help with this. One is called Voxer, V-O-X-E-R. Honestly, we used it, our team used it for a while, but we had deliverability problems with it. So I cannot recommend it. But I wanted to throw it out there to let you know that it exists. The other is an app called Marco Polo. It's video messaging.

It's like the text messaging of video. It's typically not used in workplace settings or for workplace-related reasons, but, you know, until a month ago, Zoom was typically not used for anything other than business meetings. And now it's being used for neighborhood gatherings, social clubs, book clubs. So, yeah, that line between tools that were designed for social communication and tools that were designed for effective business communication. That line is getting pretty blurry in the middle of this pandemic.

So all of this loops back to tip number 25, which is overcommunicate with your colleagues. Tip 26. Keep yourself comfortable at your desk. If you don't normally spend a lot of time in front of a computer at home, your home desk setup might be inadequate for eight hours of work. And no one is going to be productive if they're in constant pain or discomfort. So if your desk setup at home is not ideal, then either ask your employer if they have any type of budget for you to have a more ergonomic setup. Because I can hear a bunch of you already being like, no chance of that. Or if there is no chance of that, buy a few things with your own money if you have the space in your budget to do so.

Because it's your back, it's your shoulders, your neck, like that's what's going to feel better at the end of the day. So a new mouse or a new keyboard, depending on what you're currently using, those types of things can make a big difference. If you are sitting on a kitchen chair or a foldable chair, you might want to buy a better office chair. They also make these like kind of lean against type of chairs for standing desks so that you're not completely standing. Like you've got a little bit of support. You can relax a little, but you're not sitting either. So those are a variety of ideas of how to stay more comfortable at your desk. And a second monitor can boost your productivity.

Squinting at a tiny laptop screen and then leaning forward because you can't see well, that leads to bad posture. And working slowly because you need to constantly switch tabs or windows, that's not great either. So you can either get a second monitor, order one online, or you might be able to repurpose your TV into a second monitor, Check the ports on your TV and your computer to see which cable you would need in order to make it happen. You may be able to do this with only an HTML cable.

So that is tip 26. Tip number 27. Register a new phone number so that you can keep your work calls separate from your personal calls. So this tip applies if you receive a lot of calls for work and if the nature of that has now changed. So if you used to use an office phone in your pre-pandemic life, and now you have only your personal cell phone to rely on, sign up for a voiceover IP phone number for your job. And there are services like Google Voice that offer this for free.

Plus, Google Voice works on your phone and your desktop. So if you have a headset or a microphone, you can take calls from your computer. Again, the theme here is compartmentalizing. by having a Google Voice phone number, which is a separate phone number from the number that's associated with your personal cell phone, now you're creating a separation between work and home. And if you're taking these calls from your computer, you're amplifying that separation. Tip number 28. Open your windows and get some fresh air.

This can help you feel re-energized. Also, open your blinds and let some natural light shine inside your home as long as it's not producing glare on the screen. All right, that's a simple tip. And tip 29 is pretty simple as well. Stay hydrated. Drink a lot of water. Easiest way to do this, keep a large water bottle or a pitcher of water and a glass on your desk. That will give you a visual cue to drink. Tip number 30. Prioritize self-care. Outside of your working hours, in your home life, develop some type of self-care routine. It might involve journaling, taking walks, meditating, maybe a few minutes of stretching.

These types of things can help calm your mind in the midst of chaos. And we're all living in chaos right now. And tip number 31. Implement what works and leave behind what doesn't work. There's no right or wrong way to do this. If a commonly accepted or commonly espoused tip just doesn't work for you, that it doesn't work for you. Some people do their best work staying up past midnight. Other people do their best work waking up at 5 a.m.

So find what works for you. And that leads us to zoom out. And look at the big picture. Look at the 30,000 foot view. Your life, all of our lives, have changed dramatically. since the middle of March, and it's changed for reasons that are outside of our control and that we could not have reasonably predicted. No one, do you remember New Year's Eve, like ringing in the year 2020?

There was not a single person who was thinking, bet this will be the year there's a terrifying pandemic, brought on by a highly contagious disease for which we don't have either a vaccine or a cure. and I bet this is going to shut down the entire developed world and probably later the entire developing world as well. Yep, always knew it was going to happen.

Bet this will be the year. Like, you know, nobody was thinking that. Our lives changed more dramatically and more quickly than a lot of us thought was even possible. And that's enough to stress anyone out. So, let's... Zoom out, and look at the big picture.

First, we've got to set realistic expectations. You might have imagined that working from home is a breeze and, oh, it would be so much fun. But it takes a ton of self-discipline, as a lot of people across the nation are learning right now. So don't expect the same level of output from yourself as you did when you worked in an office, particularly in the beginning. You're new to this. And working from home is a skill, and like any skill, it requires practice. So go easy on yourself. Set realistic expectations for yourself.

Tackle the most important tasks first. There's that expression, eat the frog first. And ask people for help when you need it. Think about the one big thing that you want to get done each day and know the difference between being busy and being productive. You can stay busy working on tasks that don't move the needle, like answering each day. email, making to-do lists, endlessly reorganizing your workspace, but being productive means working on something that makes an impact and moves a project forward. And above all, give yourself grace.

We're facing a new reality, and we're figuring out how to work inside of this radically altered construct, so you might find yourself on an emotional roller coaster for a few weeks, and that's okay. slow down, go easy on yourself, give yourself that grace. So those are 31 tips that can help you stay productive as you work from home. And so that you don't forget any of your favorites, download a list of these tips, get a written copy of everything that we've talked about, at afford anything.com slash productive.

And I think you'll like the look of it. We went back and forth on like color scheme and whether or not we should have standalone quotes. I really like the way it came out. So take a look at it at afford anything.com slash productive. Now, before we end, there's another important thing to highlight, and that's that as the team was putting together this e-book, it struck us that this was lacking in tips specifically for parents, and that that is a reflection of the majority of the advice out there. There are a lot of articles and books on workplace productivity from home

that don't address the dual reality of also having kids at home at the same time. So on Tuesday, I went to the Afford Anything Facebook page, which you can find at Facebook.com slash Afford Anything. And I asked the parents in the Afford Anything community the following question. I said, if you have children who are home all day, how do you stay focused and productive? We got a lot of replies. I would love to read them all, but for the sake of time, I'm going to read a sampling of my favorites. Amanda says, I break up my workday into morning and late afternoon with a three-hour break in the middle to have lunch and play trumpet with my 11-year-old son.

The night before, I write out a flexible schedule for his school so he knows what to a week. expect. I like that, Amanda. It's like a Spanish siesta. Brittany says, if you're a couple, if you have a spouse or a partner who's co-parenting with you, take turns with deep work. One person is in charge of snacks and school questions for two days. The other person is in charge for the next three days. It doesn't have to be even, but it does need to take each other's needs into account. Shelley says, and I love this, most kids are sleep deprived, so let them sleep. leap in while you get up extra early to be productive. Ooh, that's both parties getting what they want.

Shelley also says, In addition, consider that your work hours are their structured play or individual time and save their coursework or tutoring until after dinner. Laura says, I'm a student and I'm expected to complete some assignments from home. My children are a handful even on the best of days. They are three and four, and I am solo. parenting. My kids wake up before 7 a.m., but they're usually less demanding in the morning,

so I get some coffee and computer time, and cartoons for them. Novelty has been the key to non-destructive distraction. I keep 95% of toys and activities locked away. I bring them out one at a time. The novelty helps focus and clean up this quicker and easier. Bobby says, I worked from home full-time and homeschooled my kids, up to the age of 16. Here are my best tips. Number one, have a meeting to clarify expectations. This should include what kids should do when they have questions about schoolwork and what they can and can't do after they complete their schoolwork. Number two, post a large daily schedule for kids to follow, and it can include pictures for pre-readers. Number three, post a sign next to or

outside of your workspace to let kids know when you absolutely cannot be interrupted. And number four, have daily chores and expectations for kids beyond schoolwork. Jennifer says, Biggest tip? Cut yourself some slack. We have a 17-year-old who is very motivated and self-sufficient, but we also have a 5-year-old boy who literally needs 24-7 supervision. I'm a health care provider,

so I have to see patients both in person and virtually. Virtual visits are from home to minimize exposure at the clinic. My husband is working full-time at home. It's a daily struggle, and neither of us feels great about it. But remember that this is not true homeschooling, as all of the community resources like libraries and museums are not open. This is hodgepodge making it work time. Remind yourself that every kid in the U.S. is going to be

at the same quote-unquote disadvantage come fall 2020, and it's okay. Find something your kid is interested in and run with it. My son could school many college kids about the solar system these days, and my teenager could school many adults about making the most out of a crappy situation. Lisa says, I have a 10-year-old, and I'm achieving success by setting her workstation up next to mine. In the morning, we go through each of her classes and the associated assignments to know what she has to accomplish.

She then works down her list, checking off things one at a time, If she has a question or needs help, I'm sitting right next to her for guidance. So far, so good. And I actually believe she's learning better because she's accountable for everything and can't blend into the class or allow other students to carry a group project. Emily says, begin early, let your kids sleep in and start at 4 or 5 a.m. It's a great time to have an entire pot of quiet coffee to yourself. Okay, two more. Sarah says, I don't.

The majority of my work is done from bedtime to midnight. And Amy says, Bloody Mary for lunch. So that is our show for today. This is PSA Thursday. A weekly segment that we're running on Thursdays for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic to talk about how to manage work, money, and life in the middle of this madness that is the year 2020.

If you want to swap ideas, stories, ask questions, interact with other people in this community to talk about working from home with or without children or to talk about layoffs or furloughs or uncertainty about the market or anything else that is coming up for you right now. You can join our community for free afford anything.com slash community. It's a great place to find an accountability buddy and chat with other people who have the same value, similar goals about the many roads that lead to financial health and financial independence. Now, that community, the one that you'll access at afford anything.com slash community, that is on a special platform that we like because it gives us more functionality in terms of

organizing conversations around topics and allowing members of the community to organize themselves into tribes based on specific shared interests or demographics or geographic location. So that's why we chose that platform. But if you're more of a Facebook person, if that's naturally where you spend a lot of your time and you would prefer a Facebook group, we do also have a Facebook group as well. And you can find that at afford anything.com slash Facebook. One last reminder to download our ebook with the 31 tips for staying productive while you're working from home at afford anything.com slash productive.

Thank you so much for tuning in. This is Paula Pant. Freshly recovered from COVID-19 and celebrating having good health again. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for being part of this community. Make sure that you're subscribed to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. Please share this episode with a friend or a family member. Anyone who you think could benefit from hearing what we've talked about today. And I will catch you in the Monday show. See you there.