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Roya Fahmy

12/07/20 at 1:05PM UTC

Consulting

Productivity

Good morning! What calendars, to do lists and organizing tools do you use to stay on a work schedule at home? How do you separate your work and living spaces?

8 Comments

Käte Davis

I help working moms leave office drama behind.

12/07/20 at 1:16PM UTC

Good morning! Such a great question, and really important these days. After my kids are at school, my husband and I go to our separate corners (sort of kidding - he's in our bedroom and I'm in what is essentially a closet). It's working for me because it's a space separated from the rest of the living space - that is my first tip. I recognize it's a mental game, but it seems to do the trick. Second, I have an "afternoon meeting" with myself now, in the absence of having a commute to decompress. I make sure everything is wrapped up for the day, and shut down my computer, so that there's a real line between the "office" and home. Third, I take the dog for a walk. For me, that's the real clincher that my day is done. I get outside, we both get some exercise, and when we get back, whatever issue I was dealing with at work seems to be clearer. (That said, I'm also a life coach, and this is my "jam," helping working moms leave their drama at the office (or their workspace? :)) so that they can be fully present with their family. I do a lot of this work with myself!) So perhaps it's more about separating the work and living functions. As for organization, there are many tips on how to effectively use Outlook (if that's your email system?) to color code and utilize the Task function to stay on schedule (you can search and you'll get a lot of YouTube hits). I also very much like the Monday Hour One theory from The Life Coach School (https://mondayhourone.com/), which has you spend some dedicated time on Monday morning to plan out the week, and some time on Friday to wrap up the week and celebrate your wins. Good luck! You will find the right combo of systems for you!

1 Reply

Roya Fahmy

12/07/20 at 1:19PM UTC

Kate. Thanks so much! I like your idea of walking to mark the end of your day. I will start using Task function in Outlook.

Noreen Whysel

110

12/07/20 at 1:25PM UTC

My husband and I each have our own work spaces on one end of our apartment, a corner bedroom that is “the office” and my sons bedroom which is empty with him away at college. There is a shared bathroom and a small hallway with glass door off the main entryway, which makes it an ideal workspace. We used to share the office, where I’ve worked from home for the past ten years, but it became difficult when he was home full time. I started to work in the kitchen when he was on calls (his Zoom voice is really loud) but then my daughter who is taking courses from home would eventually come in and want to chat. There was also the matter of being so close to food... It occurred to me that my son’s room would be an ideal, quiet place to work. Since I moved I feel like my daughter and I are both more productive. As for calendars, my husband and I use shared calendars so we know when we have breaks at the same time and can exercise or go on walks. I can turn his calendar off to focus just on my schedule. It can be difficult sometimes (I’m a google person and my current clients are all MS teams/outlook people), so accepting an invite often can be multi step process. I color code my Google calendar entries based on my client logo colors, which helps me set off blocks of time and improve productivity by aligning calls and other activities with the related color. Luckily the logos are different colors!

User edited comment on 12/07/20 at 1:28PM UTC

Jessica A. Tracy

102

Quality Manager in a Clinical Genetics Lab

12/07/20 at 2:22PM UTC

Great question and something I'm currently struggling with as I moved from working at an office to working from home. I like the idea of a walk to indicate end of work. For calendar and work to-do, our company uses Microsoft so I use outlook and To Do/Planner. I add my very few personal events to my work calendar. I don't have children so it's general just my doctor's or vet appointments. For personal to-do I use Any.do. I use this to track to-dos, bill due dates, and grocery lists. You can view then as miss our in a calendar. My husband has access to the lists also do he can see what is coming up or add things to the grocery list, which is great instead of him trying to remember to tell me.

Liza Kunz

Improving maternal and perinatal health

12/07/20 at 4:12PM UTC

I’m a big fan of Trello. Not only can I make lists of my tasks, label and reorganize (from my phone or laptop) but as I check items off I put them in a completed tasks folder. I use this completed folder to remind myself of all the work I’ve accomplished in the year when I have to write up my annual self assessment. I put due dates on tasks, create checklists of steps for more complex tasks, and I share cards with other teammates so we can see what each other has in play.

Jacqueline Cutler

Journalist

12/07/20 at 4:18PM UTC

If you have children at home and are keeping track of their schedules, I would suggest a family calendar in the kitchen. I realize this is pre-COVID, but I used to fill it out with my kids' schedules for the coming semester so I knew every Wednesday and Sundays were religious school. Party invitations, family gatherings, when my husband or I were going to be out -- that all went on the family calendar in the kitchen. I also kept a bulletin board in the kitchen for those invitations (when they all were not e-invitations) and this made it easier to plan meals, juggle childcare duties and keep that straight. Also no one else needs to be considered with my work deadlines. I also still keep a datebook, though I find it is much more for planning as my online calendar is where addresses for in-person meetings once went and where Zoom links now live. Still, I like the datebook and it gives me a better feel for planning a week. And, I use two other methods. This could be because as a freelancer, I work for a number of different outlets and I need to juggle a lot. I start every day writing a list in a notebook, citing the tasks I must accomplish for that day. My other mainstay is a large whiteboard in my office where all of my ongoing assignments are listed and I can glance at it for reminders of the overall picture. This might seem like overkill but it works for me.

Beverly Ruyle

12/07/20 at 6:25PM UTC

I use Outlook which is also sync'd to my phone and 2 Nat Geo wall calendars (I like the pictures!), one for this month and one for next . It helps visualize key dates and blocks of time.