For me, the most important thing I do is "act" like I am at work. I.e., shower, shave, put on work clothes, sit at a desk, and only take the type of breaks I would in an office environment (e.g., make coffee)
Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
31–38 of 38 posts
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#32Get a gym membership, and make a plan to use it. The time you used to spend commuting is now at least partially for the gym.
Going to the gym gets you out of the house, adds the physical activity you might lack, and will help with the weird bouts of depression that _can_ come with remote work.
Since you're on a small team, I'd add that finding a hobby or show everyone likes and can be a safe topic of conversation to bond over, even when things are stressful, will help keep lines of communication open. Making a watercooler Slack channel with that topic helps a lot.
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#33Go to bed early, wake up early. Go to gym before "work" early morning.
This way your mind and body will be full of energy, sharp and fresh
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#34As someone 90 days into a full remote from home job, I would highly recommend you meditate on whether you are the sort of person that actually wants to exist in what could effectively be a prison in the shape of your home. (Or wherever you decide to work from.) I have seriously underestimated how important human contact is, even if just with effective strangers. If it's not compatible with you, you will start a count…
This sort of thing varies from person to person. For example, my wife and I are both very introverted and don't really need the human contact part. My wife does work from home full time and loves it. I can do almost 100% of my job remotely and so I work from home one day a week. I could do more work from home, but my coworkers can't do their jobs remotely so I don't want it to be unfair for them. Personally I would r…
Disagree with "That won't look good on a resume".
Quite an opposite.
Lots of good reasons why professional could get back to previous place: more interesting project, being valued, maintained good relationshiops, etc...
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#35Do whatever in which you have an interest any access.
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#36So it really depends, I see a lot of responses below and it really depends on your ability to work and focus (everyone is different), but for me, personally, I have a KVM and I have different setups for different levels of concentration. Nobody is ever 100% productive, don't try to be. When I start work, I log in and put my work system on my main monitor and focus on my morning work routine. I triage things as needed (I support many different systems), then I take a break to grab a coffee and take care of my morning routine. I return and work on anything important first and depending on how things go may do another work task or 2 before lunch. After lunch, I triage anything new that's on my list, then shift work to be a secondary focus for a while (personal system as main monitor, work system off to the side). I do this for about an hour, after eating it takes time to regain full productivity. Then I shift back to my work system, on my main monitor, do some more work until people start leaving the office, once things are quiet, it becomes secondary until I log out for the day. This mimics real office life to some degree, it adds in time to de-stress and take it easy, but it allows you to maximize your productivity in bursts without getting burnt out. As for teamwork, I personally prefer group chats when there's an issue we're tackling, but I'm always a fan of a quick 1 to 1 phone call to discuss things, when needed. People always know if they send me an IM, I'll be there and willing to help. Biggest mistake I see people making - Feeling guilted into working until burnout. Put in your 40 hours, don't expect 100% productivity, but do your best and take the work seriously.
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#371. Have a dedicated area that you only perform work. Don’t use kitchen table. It’s good for your mental health to have a dedicated area where you only work and when you’re not “at work” - don’t use that area. 2. Get dressed for “work”, including shoes. Don’t make you’re comfortable as if you just rolled out of bed and wearing sleep clothes. Get up. Get dressed. Putting on shoes is important. It tricks your mind into…
I'd like to offer a dissenting point of view on some of this. I roll out of bed, put on comfy pants, and shamble over to my work/ gaming pc. When I get hungry I go cook something. When I need to think through a problem I go clean the house, do dishes, or lay back in a comfy chair and think. If I need to get something done around the house or run an errand, I just go do it. If I need a nap, I take one. I do try to get…
Yep I'm this way as well.
But it heavily depends on your personality (are you easily distracted?) and your employer (are they generally lax with WFH, or are they on the strict side?
I tend to have a flexible schedule. Take 2 or 3 hour breaks mid day (gym, grocery store, cook lunch, relax). But I also end up working "off hours" and put in more than 40 hours a week on average.
I know some people thrive with the "treat it like a 9-5", but for me that doesn't make a difference.
The biggest piece of advice I have that seems to overlap is, don't let your family take advantage of you working from home. It's easy to get roped into doing non-work things because your family thinks you have free time.
Re: Ask HN: First time working from home; what to do or not do?
#38A lot of the advice here is good!
For me: what helped was easing into it: I would only work a bit from home for an hour or 2 in the morning before going into the office (it was during my PhD so no one was monitoring my time).
When I got more comfortable working from home I started doing entire days, but not the entire week. Eventually, I started working only from home. This way meant that I could set up good habits (they'll be different for everyone) before doing it all the time.