The discussions are almost over. Work from home is here to stay. We are all enjoying the benefits of it. No longer stuck in traffic in the unbearable summer heat. I no longer question my decisions while jammed in an overcrowded bus. No longer doing the infinite wait for an empty lift at the office. I love working from home for so many reasons.

BUT!

There are a few things that make me want to go back to the office. To give you a little background I work as a machine learning engineer in an MNC in India. If you are reading this from some other country you may not relate to this. I joined as an Intern in my company when things were normal. Then became a full-time employee and by that time remote work has started.

The very first mistake I did was not considering it as real work. I thought I could just be at home and work at the same time. But can we? My answer is…No. You have to be mentally and physically at work when you work. How can we do that when people who you live with expect you to be available at home?

For example, people might visit your parents (I lived with my parents till I got married. In my case getting married was equivalent to moving in with my boyfriend) and they want to see you but you are in a meeting. You can’t say no because that makes you an “ahankari” (Malayalam word for “Having or showing feelings of unwarranted importance out of overbearing pride”).

Setting expectations

So the first step to avoiding unwanted drama and stress is to set expectations early on and communicate them well with people who live and work with you.

• Set a schedule
• Make a To-Do list

Communicate your commitments well.

Practice Deep Work

I have been listening to Deep Work by Cal Newport for a while now. I have completed around 80% of the book. We are living in a world where distractions are everywhere. It takes discipline and determination to get something done more than ever. The idea of deep work is to schedule time blocks in your day where with no distractions you can complete the things that matter.

In my current job as ML engineer, deep work is inevitable. We do rapid prototyping of complex systems using AI and ML. But there are so many sources of distractions from work and home when you sit down to do some deep work.

According to the author, we live in an age where the most sought-after skill is to learn complex things quickly, which obviously needs deep work. The book goes deep into multitasking and how it reduces our productivity. There are a few things you can do like,

• Time blocking
• Letting people know that you won’t be available
• Put your phone away

Schedule everything

This is where Parkinson’s Law (work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion) comes into the picture. Unless you schedule a specific time for each task, you will be struggling to meet the deadlines possibly after a lot of procrastination.

Scheduling each and every task may not be possible but, scheduling study time or focus time for the harder tasks is a good idea.

Have a starting and ending ritual

This helps immensely because our brain is an association machine. Associating habits you want to build with things you already do is a great tactic. For example, my wind-down ritual is associated with closing my laptop, playing my favorite music on my phone and taking a shower. I don’t go near my work phone or work laptop after that.

In the morning I get a green tea and sit down with my tea to tackle my most important task of the day. After around 90 minutes of deep work, I do my workout, shower, breakfast and so on. Connecting all these activities together has helped me a lot with my consistency.

Set your priorities

As shocking as it sounds you can’t do it all. Multitasking is killing your ability to focus and learn. During multitasking, our brain has to context switch a lot. The best way to understand your priorities is self-reflection. Make it a habit to write down your thoughts and worries. Journaling helps a lot to understand our causes and values. Things we do have to align with your values.

An exercise I came across recently was from Dr. Rangan Chattergi in Tom Bilyeu’s podcast. He has done a lot of research into happiness and its effect on health. So first think about three things that would make you happy if you do them this week. Then think about three things that would make you happy when you are on your deathbed. According to him, these two sets has to align. For example, if spending quality time with your spouse is something that makes you happy this week, you will be happy that you spend quality time with your wife on your deathbed when your life is aligned with your values.

So if you are sacrificing your health or relationships for work, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Spending 12 hours a day in a job that you hate just for the sake of social status might kill you slowly.

The bottom line

Managing a work-from-schedule comes with a lot of hidden challenges with the benefits. We can save a considerable amount of time by avoiding commutes and unnecessary distractions. But, if you give it some thought and figure out a plan that works for you and whoever you are working for, then it’s the best.

If you are interested in topics like health and nutrition, productivity, happiness, etc check out my other articles.

• Which is the best cooking oil to use?
• How to figure out what to do with your life?
• Kindle or tablet? Which is better for reading?

If you have some time to spare check out my mediocre YouTube channel 😁.