Preamble: I love working from home. I am privileged to have a quiet space (not right now as SO is trying to video conference with stepson about fixing his PC and shouting as if he needs to physically carry the sound waves–both of them have to self isolate right now). However, working from home are usually my favourite days. I can start getting all the admin and emails out of the way during my morning coffee around 6 am. And then have a wonderful and sweet day of focused work in front of me, developing content, marking assessment, writing, working on projects etc.
But that’s just the thing. When I work from home. I usually have a reason. There is a focus. Something I want to get done, which an office with constant interruptions doesn’t permit me to focus on.
However, yesterday, the first officially declared work from home day felt strange. If it would have been an on campus day I would probably not have made it to my office for more than half an hour due to constant meetings, chats, on all kinds of channels. And somehow, everything felt off. Disjointed. A bit like wading through water. Constantly worrying about my family and friends is not helping. The last thing my brain wants to do is focus on work.
So I texted my office roomie, and we agreed to be accountability buddies. Help each other with daily plan setting. Whilst there are some things on my to do list I need to get through: first and foremost I think I need to do some planning and structuring of the weeks ahead.
Things I have done so far:
- I have ordered a comfy chair for my office
- Brought all the plants home
- Got ring-binders and sorted all the papers
- Got a new spiral notepad for planning
- Took the headset from work
- Made sure all documents from work PC are in OneDrive
How are you setting up for remote working?
Trying to stay sane:
- I can go for walks in the country side as I literally live on the outskirts of town.
- Do gardening
- Drawing
- Need to get a home exercise regime! This is going to be the hardest bit
Adventures in Academic Development 