How to keep your house cool while working from home

By: Juliet Wanjiru Wakio

Worth Noting:

• By working to “time” versus working to “task,” I program the disruptions that take place naturally at work. Honor the Rituals That Work for You. For example, people are accustomed to wearing certain work clothes when working and “informal” clothes when at home. When you are working at home, it might be useful to dress as though you are going to put in a full day’s work.
• There is no need to change a successful ritual. Another ritual of work is your unique sleep-wake cycle pattern. My normal rhythm is to go to bed at 10:00PM and to get up at 6:00AM. When working at home, it is easy to extend the sleep time to 1 or 2 AM. Nobody cares if you wake up at 9 or 10 AM.

A home based office sounds exciting as a concept. The ideal home office environment is a private room, away from the bedroom. The reality is that you may have to take over the guest room or a corner of the kitchen. To do this, you need to have a dedicated work space. Working on the kitchen table is acceptable, but on the other hand it is hard to keep papers organized. Using the top of the guest room dresser is only a short term solution. Long term use of a bedroom dresser can create lower back problems. A desk is, after all, designed for people to be sitting and bending over slightly.

You don’t have a desk and you don’t have the money to buy a good one? You can purchase two or three drawer file metal cabinets. If you should get a job that provides you with office space then tear up the wooden plank and chuck it into the hearth while you toast your new job by the flicker of the office. Create a calm atmosphere, clean your work area and organize the clutter at least once a day. Use an essential oil diffuser to send some luxurious scents through the air or burn sage to boost your energy, mood, and brain function.

In a home office, distractions are minimized. This minimal distraction allows for intense concentration. The downside is that it is too easy to intensely concentrate on unproductive activities. In the management of tasks, there is a law of diminishing returns, that is, after a certain period of time, more time on a given task may not necessarily yield better results.

You need to take a break. Instead of working to “task completion,” find your natural work rhythm and work to “time completion.” For instance, my natural productivity rhythm is 40-45 minutes. Beyond that time, The Law of Diminishing Returns begins to take effect for me. In this case, I purchased a digital watch with a count-down feature.  I organize my daily work into chunks of time. Each period is 45 minutes long. When the alarm rings, it is time to switch tasks. I alternate work with a chunk of time for walking, reading the newspapers, exercise, eating, and so on.

By working to “time” versus working to “task,” I program the disruptions that take place naturally at work. Honor the Rituals That Work for You. For example, people are accustomed to wearing certain work clothes when working and “informal” clothes when at home. When you are working at home, it might be useful to dress as though you are going to put in a full day’s work.

There is no need to change a successful ritual. Another ritual of work is your unique sleep-wake cycle pattern. My normal rhythm is to go to bed at 10:00PM and to get up at 6:00AM. When working at home, it is easy to extend the sleep time to 1 or 2 AM. Nobody cares if you wake up at 9 or 10 AM. The problem with changing the sleep-wake cycle is that it becomes too easy to develop rituals that can conflict with the rhythm of the business day.

Stick to the work habits that have served you well. In addition, you should plan out your meals and snacks ahead of time, such as at the beginning of the workday. This prevents you from working to the point of hunger and then scrambling to decide what to eat. You should also avoid eating at your workplace. Choose foods that help you to boost memory, concentration, and alertness.

They may include foods such as pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, and eggs. Also to note, limit your intake of refined carbs, processed foods, and sugary drinks. Moreover, take a short walk. This means you don’t need to walk miles for it to be effective. Take a 20-minute walk once or twice a day, especially when you’re feeling frazzled or indecisive.

As the way we live our lives has changed drastically over the past year, more and more people are being put into situations where they have to work from home. But as the world starts to reopen and some people head back to the office – many businesses and employees alike are left with an important question: should we continue to work from home?

The increase in Wifi and Cloud software systems has contributed to make “working from home” more accessible for just about anyone not involved in manual labour. From a business point of view, moving to remote working is extremely financially beneficial. Your business no longer has to pay for office space or electricity bills, cutting overheads down greatly. One become in charge of his or her own office space.. Of course, working from home is not only economical – the reduction in travelling time and costs is also beneficial.