PPB June 2020

The advice varies on whether you should or shouldn’t clean house during your breaks, but in my opinion, do what works for you. I find that taking 10 minutes to vacuum downstairs or do the dishes makes me feel better than zoning out on social media for the same amount of time. If you find yourself struggling to get back to work once you’ve finished a chore, save it for after work hours instead. Make sure to stand up and get outdoors every now and then as well. As best you can while respecting any remaining social-distancing measures, take a walk around the block, let yourself out with the dogs for a fewminutes or eat lunch on your patio. Taking a minute to just be outside and breathe in the fresh air can reset your whole day. I keep the front window beside my workspace open throughout the day so I can see neighbors walking by and feel a refreshing breeze. 4 Give Yourself Grace When you sit down to work, do your best to focus, even if the kitchen is only 10 feet away. Surprisingly, working remotely comes with fewer distractions, since your coworkers can’t be tempted to drop by your desk and lose track of time talking about their most recent Netflix binge, nor will you be tempted to eavesdrop on their phone calls. At the same time, this is a new experience for so many of us, and there may be additional distractions or demands on your time than you would experience under the best of circumstances. Do your best to remain focused throughout the day and give your best effort to your work, but don’t begrudge yourself a few minutes spent playing referee for your children or answering a personal call. On top of being newly minted telecommuters, we’re also cut off frommuch of our usual contact with friends, family and coworkers, and that can be extremely taxing on your mental health. Beating yourself up over it won’t help. 5 Connect And Unplug Video conference meetings and chat services might not feel the same as in-person, but they’re everyone’s new normal for now. Get comfortable with whichever service provider your company is using and make an extra effort to touch base individually with your team as often as you can. It may seem like overkill to reach out daily but remember that’s how often you would see them in the office. For keeping in touch with your industry peers, there’s PromoConnect, Facebook groups, virtual trade shows, video conference happy hours and more. At the end of the workday, make sure to actually end your day. Turn off any chat services, put away the laptop, turn off email notifications and set work aside as best you can once you leave your workspace. Dedicate some extra time after work to connecting with friends and family instead of coworkers. Committing regular time to personal phone and video calls will help combat the loneliness of working from home as well. Overall, it’s important to remember that everyone is dealing with a unique situation. Give yourself time to adjust and adapt. Stay positive and take things one day at a time, and we’ll all get through this together. Kacie Brinner is the information services project supervisor and Prop 65 SME at industry business services provider SAGE and a volunteer leader with SPARK, the industry network for young professionals. At the end of the workday, make sure to actually end your day. Turn off any chat services, put away the laptop, turn off email notifications and set work aside as best you can once you leave your workspace. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 76 | JUNE 2020 | THINK