Optimizing Your Crazy Workday, Without Going Crazy

The dirty truth about working from home is that unless you are deliberate, it feels like the work never ends, and there is no such thing as typical school day. As we move next week into the 4th week of online learning, you are probably feeling burned out and overwhelmed by your class to-do list. You are certainly not alone. How do you make this very full schedule work alongside your personal life, because this is crucial?

There are ways to optimize your life and create a space for efficiency. There are steps we can take to unpack out jam-packed work schedule.

Don’t roll out of bed and begin answering emails and making calls. Take some time to get moving and to develop some morning ritual that you follow each morning.
Spend the first hour each morning talking to family members face-to-face and possibly reaching out virtually to your friends. You may spend the rest of the day in front of our computer, so take advantage of these times.
Try setting up specific times each hour to respond to emails. I would suggest hollowing out the last 15 minutes of each hour.[1]
Take a break and eat some lunch. As I noted earlier, the face-to-face time is vital for relationship building and this directly correlates with your effectiveness.

I am not saying to neglect schoolwork, but trust me, we spend a lot of time each day working on things that really don’t require as much time and attention as we give them. With this in mind, we can spend less time each day “working” because we are being deliberate about the time we spend on each thing. If we spend 8 hours a day doing our job inefficiently, when we put some structure to it, it now only requires 2-4 hours, cutting out the wasted effort and replacing it with effectiveness, and increased personal time.

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/25/5-tips-for-optimizing-your-crazy-workday-from-a-productivity-expert.html