On working from home...

Maybe Someday...!?

This month will mark 4 months since I left my midtown corporate lawyer gig for self-employment out of my 1 bedroom apartment. I'm amazed to realize that it's already been 1/3 of a year because as the saying goes, the days are long, but the weeks and months are short. I could write a novel on working from home, but instead thought I'd share some of the top tips, lessons learned and rules I've made for myself so far. 

* Start your day with a routine, or a meeting, or something

For me, the hardest part of working from home is getting the day started. Without an office to report to I often sleep later or sit down to my laptop in pajamas and suddenly realize it's 2pm and I haven't brushed my teeth or eaten a thing. Having to get up and go to work forces you into a routine that working from home makes easy to skip. DO NOT SKIP this routine! After 2 months of disastrous days at home (and Dr. H questioning my basic sanitation) I made a rule to always get up, clean up and get dressed, even if it's into comfy clothing. I also try to schedule breakfasts and morning meetings that get me up and out of the house. 

* Be ok with having a weird schedule (and use it to your advantage)

Sometimes I'll have an entire morning without anything urgent to do or a crazy day that suddenly opens up at 3pm. And though you'd think I'd be all "awesome, free time!" more often I'm like "crap, I need to find more work to do because this is "work time"". It's ridiculous. One of the best things about working from home is how efficient you can be with your day, placing appointments, errands, meetings and breaks where you want them to be, instead of outside 9 to 5 or during lunch. Don't feel guilty about a 9:30am workout if it isn't going to impact your day's overall productivity. If you finish everything you need to do early, shut the laptop and relax... we're often our own toughest critics so you'll know deep down the difference between slacking and taking advantage of a good thing:)

* Get out of the house

As we barrel towards the cold, dark, winter months, I've found it increasingly important to leave the warm cocoon of my apartment and work elsewhere. Not only did staying home every day make me miss all my (awesome) work outfits, but it made me lonely and probably a little depressed. Now I work from coffee shops, restaurants, Dr. H's office, anywhere with other humans, at least once or twice per week. It's made a world of difference for my mood and overall enjoyment of working "from home".

* Have a physically separate work space in your home (if possible)

Earlier this fall Dr. H and I decided not to move to a larger apartment and while I don't regret that decision at all, I do see why moving next year to a place where I'll have an actual office will be a huge upgrade. Right now, my desk is in the living room and it's led to a variety of issues like difficulty disconnecting at night, lack of focus when Dr. H gets home early on nights when I need to work late and a desperation to "get out" on weekends instead of home feeling like a haven. If you can, have your office be its own space with a door you can open and close so that you can enter and leave work without entering and leaving your house!!

If you're a fellow work-from-home'er, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you handle the overlap, isolation and lack of supervision... what are your tips and tricks!?

There is such thing, as too much of a good thing…

In the past 6 weeks I have travelled to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Louisville, Kentucky, Charleston, South Carolina, Portland, Maine and New Orleans, Louisiana. I have eaten some of the tastiest meals and drank plenty to wash them down. I’ve done a lot of dancing. (And in my spare time I left the company I worked at for over 5 years and started my own business…)

I have eaten (quite) well and travelled (very) often, potentially maxing out my own life’s motto of “une view a plein bord” and now it’s time to reset. I need to get back to some sort routine, or figure out a new routine as the case may be (perhaps each work-from-home-day should still start with brushing my teeth!?). I need to start taking better care of myself including making time for eating right and exercise (because I’ve blown through my entire supply of elastic waist-band pants). And because taking on any daunting task is better with a buddy… I’m bringing y’all with me. Welcome to Wellness Week my friends, where each day we are going to commit to do 1 thing we’ve been meaning to do that’s good for us.

Wellness Week Day 1 - Schedule those Appointments

We’ve all got the health appointment we’ve just been “too busy” to schedule. The dentist or dermo or orthopedist to check out a nagging pain... well the delaying stops now. Today, commit to making that call and scheduling your overdue checkup. Make it a priority. I promise, your body will thank you!

Healthy Habit of the Month II.

Yup, that sounds about right.

This post is the second installment of SeektobeMerry's "Healthy Habit of the Month" series. Sourced from my bff's at Weight Watchers, online articles and my own efforts to keep fit and trim, throughout 2013, I will attempt to integrate one new healthy habit into my life each month. Join me!

So we meet again impending spring... With March just 1 week away, I'm trying to overlook the lion and focus on the lamb. Before we know it, warmer weather will allow us to shed our bulky sweaters and full-coverage outfits for spring apparel, meaning it's time to get serious about our healthy habits people!!! How are we doing with last month's pledge to eat a fruit or veggie at every meal? Full disclosure, I've achieved only moderate success. I'm definitely eating WAY more of the good stuff, but for me every meal is a major change and requires a lot of advance planning. I'm getting there. Baby steps right? This month we're going to shift gears from food to activity.
Healthy Habit of the Month #2: Schedule a workout. Just one. EVERY week.

We all have the best intentions, but fitting in exercise can be a real challenge. You have to physically get to the place you're going to workout, you have to have energy to do your workout and then you have to clean yourself up (with the sweating and the hair and the re-dressing...) For me a 1 hour workout can take nearly 2 hours if I include travel and cleanup times. And we're all busy (and lazy and thirsty for a cocktail) so some weeks I get in 3 or 4 workouts, other weeks, nada. For this month's challenge, I'm going to look at my calendar every Sunday night and schedule in 1 workout for the week. I'm going to treat it like an important meeting - it cannot be cancelled or rescheduled for anything short of a true emergency. No more excuses, just a better ability to make time for working up a good sweat. Game on exercise!