Make this a not so Blue Monday with these Handy Tips and Tricks

It happened again! Boris said the word…LOCKDOWN! And we find ourselves stuck back indoors for the third time. The novelty of home baking and pub quiz nights has well and truly worn off but the reality of living and working at home has not been a completely gruelling one. After almost a year of ups and downs, make-shift home offices and video calls, we have in many ways made it work.

With out the often long, hot and over crowed commutes to work we have found more time in the day. Hobbies have been embraced, new routines established and we have all found more time for ourselves and our families. For one thing, staying at home has not been a complete drag – but as I’m sure we all do, the idea of a cold pint at the pub on a Thursday night is dreamy!

As a company we have seen an increase in productivity as we migrated to a working from home routine. Teams has indeed been a life saver for daily catch ups and the odd day in the office kept us appreciating the old ways. However, with the end in sight I, as I’m sure many of you do too, are looking for a new lease of life in your working from home routine.

As we are now ‘Solo’ workers in the sense that we work from home, there are many new hurdles we face in the working hours of the day. Prioritising tasks, taking a lunch break and not getting tunnel vision when it comes to productivity, are all challenges that face a solo worker. However, when overcome – a solo worker can create great things! Buddha, Einstein and Nietzsche are a few of the great working from home pioneers. Coincidence – I think not!

Tips and tricks to help you master the soloist routine and get those light bulb moments of productive bliss:

• Establish a designated work space in your house
• Create daily list – prioritising most important to least important tasks for the day
• Drink water!
• Regular breaks from your screen – it is recommended that we should take a break from our screens every 90 mins (make a cuppa, go outside, stretch)
• Move your desk around, or change your designated work space – A new location can help productivity
• Fresh air – obviously within Government guidelines. A daily walk or workout can elevate your mood
• Stretch! Neck shoulders and back stretches are a saviour – Why not do a group workout on your daily virtual catch ups?

A structured routine is a great way to get you through the day – especially when a lot of us are stuck inside the same four walls. But of course, with all that’s going on at the moment it’s also okay not to be okay. We miss our friends and families, holidays, gyms and pretty much everything that used to be second nature to us. We are bound to get grouchy and annoyed at the people we are around 24/7 – lucky for those with pets they have a personal therapist to confide in.

Let’s beat Blue Monday and appreciate the little things we do have now, and the bigger things we can look forward to in a post lockdown (hopefully) summer.