How to Work From Home Like A Boss

Person working from home on a laptop laying on their bed

So You’re Working from Home…

Did you know that April 10 is Global Work from Home Day? As an entirely remote agency, we’ve become experts in how to work from home like a boss.

As we navigate the nuances of working from home, striking a balance between productivity and self-care is an essential part of your success. So, let's explore some actionable tips to help you thrive in your work from home (or “WFH”, as the kids like to call it) environment that will keep you focused, organized, and productive all while taking care of your mental health.

Get Comfy, Stay Active

Whether you’re new to working from home or have been doing it for a long time, one thing is for sure: being comfortable and staying active during the day is a must. While it’s very easy to slip into the habit of staying put at your desk/kitchen table/couch/bed/wherever you work, it’s important to get up, move around, and get some fresh air once in a while. Take your dog for a walk, go grab a coffee, or fit a little yoga into your breaks. It’s not only good for the body, but for the mind as well. In addition to this, here are some products that we love that’ll help you stay comfy and active during the day:

Buy a Footstool to Put Under Your Desk

Adding a footstool - like this one from BlissTrends - to your home office setup is a game-changer. Bid adieu to uncomfortable seating positions and say hello to ergonomic bliss. With a footstool tucked neatly under your desk, you can eliminate cramps and stiffness, while improving posture and comfort. Elevate your feet and your productivity as you conquer your day with ease.

Sit Pretty with a Criss-Cross Chair

Investing in a criss-cross chair - like this beauty from Sweetcrispy - is ideal for home office setups. With a 360° rotating seat and adjustable features, this chair offers optimal comfort and versatility. Its wide seat size and U-shaped design reduce hip pressure, while the high-density, sponge-filled cushion ensures long-lasting comfort.

Get Moving with a Walking Pad Treat

Who said you can’t walk a mile or two while you work? Place a walking pad - like this one from Yagud - underneath any table where you can stand and work, and start your journey towards consistent exercise while you crush your to-do list.

woman walking on walking pad. amazon product photo.

woman rubbing her eyes from eye fatigue with glasses in her hand

Easy On the Eyes

Comfort doesn’t always have to come in the form of how your body is positioned. Since we spend upwards of 7-8 hours a day glued to computer screens during the week (instead of socializing by the office copy machine), your eyes are getting a heck of a workout.

Pick Up Some Blue Light Glasses

Luckily, there’s a solution to eye fatigue in the form of blue light glasses - like these trendy cuties from Visoone. With the capability to block up to 99% of harmful blue light, they should be your go-to solution for preventing visual fatigue, eyestrain, and those pesky headaches. Plus, they're non-prescription, making them suitable for anyone.

beige pearly blue light glasses resting on case

Quit the Squint with a Sleek Monitor

If you’re someone who works at a desk, managing lots of projects at once, there’s no need to try to fit all your windows and assets on one 11-15” screen. With its expansive screen real estate and crystal-clear display, a monitor - like this one from HP - enhances productivity by facilitating seamless multitasking and providing clarity for documents, presentations, and detailed design work.

HP desk monitor with beautiful landscape

Person working from home with monitor, laptop, and phone on desk along with iced drink

Stay Productive

One of the more challenging aspects of working from home is trying to avoid distraction. Cohabitating with family members, pets, and life noise can often create a recipe for disastrous workflow…not to mention the laundry that has been piling up all week. While it’s healthy to take a break to throw in that laundry, it’s important to learn how to identify and minimize common distractions in a home environment, including noise, social media, and household chores, to maintain focus and concentration during work hours. Here’s some tips on how to do just that:

Manage Your Time Effectively

Consider exploring strategies for effectively managing your time, such as setting daily goals, creating schedules in your calendar, and utilizing organization features/applications that will help you maximize productivity. At Random, we use a combination of Google Workspace, Slack, and ClickUp to keep our team in communication and hold one another accountable for getting tasks done. That said, nothing is wrong with keeping a notebook, some sticky notes, a whiteboard, or any other tool that will keep you on task near your workspace to maximize your productivity.

Change Up Your Scenery

A major part of working from home is working alone throughout most of - if not all - of your week. If you allow yourself to be sequestered to your everyday workspace without regularly interacting with the outside world, your mental health has the potential to decline significantly.

One way to shake things up (if your job allows for it) is to challenge yourself to work from a coffee shop or a coworking space. This could be once a week, once a month, or even sporadically. Either way, getting out of the house and into the world can be just what the doctor ordered; the change of scenery can really boost your productivity and creativity levels in ways you have to see to believe, just purely based on a different environment, the buzz of the other people around you, or both!

If this isn’t an option for you, find other ways to stimulate your brain outside of your home. Go for a walk on your break or sit on your porch/balcony (as long as the WiFi reaches). Anything that allows you to switch things up without sacrificing your workflow or efficiency is worth the extra effort if it ultimately boosts your mood.

Set Boundaries

There can be a lot of crossover between work life and personal life when you work from home, and the laptop can end up staying open a lot longer than it might if you worked in an office. The good news is that there are lots of ways you can avoid blurring the lines between your 9-5 and your 5-9.

One of the most important concepts to embrace is the act of setting boundaries. Setting boundaries between work and personal life is essential when working from home, especially if the space that used to be used for relaxation and decompression is now the same one in which you take meetings and work on presentation decks.. Creating dedicated workspaces, establishing clear work hours, and communicating expectations with family members, housemates, and even your coworkers will help you foster a more productive work environment.

We understand that setting boundaries can be challenging and anxiety inducing for some folks; nobody wants to seem like they aren’t a team player. That said, communicating healthy boundaries is the best way to set yourself (and your team) up for success. To dive into this concept more, check out this blog on Weworkremotely.com for even more tips.

Guess What? You’re a Boss Now

By implementing these products and strategies to maintain focus, protect our physical and mental health, and establish clear boundaries, we can navigate the intricacies of working from home with resilience and wellbeing intact, like the boss that you are. Remember, it’s all about making your workspace work for YOU.

Looking to level up more than just your WFH setup? Random can help you with everything from A to Z in the digital marketing realm. Contact us here to get started!

Schedule a discovery call today → thatrandomagency.com

Getting By With a Little Help From Your (Random) Friends

The weather is getting colder, our days are getting shorter, and for those who struggle with mental health, you may be struggling more than usual (and that's OKAY!).

Taking care of yourself and your mental health is an important task, no matter your situation. We encourage you to stay if you're trying to find some encouragement or tips for a work-life balance. But here's to our fellow work-from-home workers, we know it might take a little something extra to ensure you're truly taking care of yourself and your mental health.

Working remote, just as all other careers, comes with its pros and cons. We may not have a commute, obtain more flexibility than others, and you might even be wearing sweats (guilty!). But, when we neglect our mental health, working from home has the potential to quickly feel isolating. We may easily fall into patterns and an unhealthy routine, sometimes not even leaving the house for a day, or days, at a time. We know it happens, and you may not even notice or feel affected at first. But it's important for us to set healthy boundaries and expectations for your own sake, and if you struggle with mental health prior to this remote position, please be aware of the effects you may experience!

So, as fellow remote workers, we're here for you and want to share some tips that may guide you in creating a healthy work-life balance while working from home.

You Are Not One in a Million

First things first, know you are NOT alone! Here are some statistics we've gathered that show just that:

According to a survey by the American Psychological Association (2021), nearly two-thirds of people working from home feel isolated or lonely 'at least sometimes' and 17% do 'all the time,' That's over 80% of remote workers experiencing a sense of loneliness (forbes.com).
Upright Pose conducted a survey and found that on a typical remote workday, one in three workers sit in their work chairs the entire day and 63% walk only to go to the bathroom or kitchen. Meanwhile, 24% of remote workers never leave their home (forbes.com).
Upright Pose's survey found 78% report that they feel concerned about the future health consequences that an increase in sedentary lifestyle could lead to long-term.

We're not sure if that helped, but we hope there's some comfort in knowing that you're not the only one who may experience a negative impact on your mental health. We empathize with your frustration and confusion. We're here to give you some tips on how to create a healthy lifestyle while loving your remote job.

Random Tips for Our Remote Peers

Tip #1: Set boundaries

Yes, you heard us! SET. BOUNDARIES. Boundaries are important for us, for you, for your boss, for your friends, for your family, and the list goes on (and on, and on). But we'll just touch on the work boundaries and save the rest for you to work on later.

Start slow, if that helps, you don't need to go boundary crazy. Let's begin with actually taking your lunch break A survey found 29% of Americans working from home don't take any meal breaks during the workday. And six in 10 feel guilty for taking any kind of break during work hours (nypost.com). So Yeah. That statistic speaks for itself; take your lunch break people! It's important to fuel your body and step away from the computer, so if you have issues setting boundaries in your work life, start here. Block off that lunch hour on your calendar if you need to, and enjoy a minute to breathe!

Other boundaries to consider that may make your work from home life easier on your mental state could be sticking to your scheduled work hours. Yes, something as simple as that! Act like you're stepping into the office, log on at the beginning of the day, and shut the laptop down at the end (workaholics, this one's for you!). Same thing goes with your work phone. Whether you're at home, on vacation, etc. Put the work phone away, that email can wait until your next work day, trust us.

Tip #2: Your Work Location

Let's start with designating a space in your home to work. Whether that's a home office, a desk, a spot at your dining table, whatever it may be. Try to avoid the habit of working from your bed, since your bed is for sleeping! Compartmentalizing these spaces in your home will be more beneficial than you may think.

However, not leaving the house may become part of the problem you're struggling with. It's good to mix things up, too! If you're finding yourself home for days at a time, it may be time to consider looking for alternatives such as a coffee shop nearby or your local public library. A change of scenery and new surroundings might just be the thing that pulls you out of a rut.

Tip #3: Find a hobby (outside of the house)

It's just as important to invest in yourself and your passions as it is to get out into the world. Finding something you enjoy doing, at a space outside of your home, is a great way to make sure you're actually getting out of the house.

Like to exercise? Join a local gym. Go for a walk outside. Like to read? Join a local book club. Want to be creative? Look into some local art classes.

Finding what you like to do makes it that much easier to take a step in the right direction (and outside your front door).

Tip #4: Reach out to your coworkers

Listen, you may be in different cities or even different states, but reaching out to your coworkers is a great step! It's important to build relationships in any respect, and if you're struggling with isolation, there's no harm in finding a way to talk to your coworkers!

Schedule a Zoom call on your lunch hour, invite your coworkers to a virtual happy hour, whatever it may be! Having that interaction with your coworkers is just as important online as it is in-person. Reach out and make a new friend. It might just help.

Tip #5: Make time for friends and family

Seeing those you're close with is more important than ever. Reach out to your friends, set up a lunch date, host a cocktail hour, go to the movies, who cares! Maintain those friendships as much as you can, because people need people (and remote workers really need people).

Call your parents, siblings, cousins, aunt, uncles, and grandparents or even visit them. When your family brings a positive light to your life, it's important to keep them close. Reaching out to family is a great first step if you need someone to talk to.

Tip #6: Reach out if you're struggling

We know this can be hard, and it's different for everyone. But if you find your mental health declining (and this goes for everyone reading this), please reach out for help! A trusted family member, friend, acquaintance, your boss, a therapist, whoever you feel you can have an open, and honest conversation with, please do so. It's important to be honest with yourself and get help if you find yourself at a point where you need it.

We're going to leave some of these resources here, they're here to help you.

Crisis Text Line - Text HOME to 741741

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline - 988 - Chat Online Here

National Domestic Violence Hotline - (800) 799-7233

APA Crisis Hotlines and Resources

Making Social Media A Safe Space

Given we're in the social media industry You had to know this was coming. Social media can be used for good! So as a little something extra, here are 6 mental health social media accounts we love and encourage you to follow if you love them, too.