Working From Home, or Living at Work?

Foreign. Good morning everyone. This is Sean Butner with start your week with a high performance coach. So the Friday show that we set up on the newsletter, so if you're not on that, you can go to SeanButner.com to get signed up to get the email notifications. But if you're good watching it, wherever you're watching this, then super awesome. So today I wanted to talk about the topic of working from home or living at work. And it kind of interrupt what I've been doing this week with the high performance five pillars. So if you haven't seen that, go check out the Instagram or Facebook page or YouTube wherever you'd like to watch videos and you can hear more about high performance and some of the basis of that. But you know, when the coronavirus lockdown started happening in March, I dug deep into my experience and anything I could find on the interwebs on, you know, how you can work more effectively at home. Because, you know, we all know that we can be more productive, you know, not having to commute, not having to have the stress of the commute. You know, you get some extra time to be able to do some extra work, to take care of yourself, to take care of things around the house. You don't have those folks dropping in and interrupting you in the middle of your work. And you know, you can be more productive. On the converse side, you know, people figure out like, hey, you can work from home. That means anytime you're home, you can be working. And if you're again locked in your home all the time. So there's now a pressure at home to be consistently working, constantly working, and if you don't have a plan, you don't have boundaries set with your boss and whatnot, then you can get into this unsustainable burnout phase where you feel trapped at home instead of having it be that place of rejuvenation and relaxation. So. So what can you do about it? Well, like I said before, like, I had a career in tech, which allowed me to work from home on and off for about 13 years. And there are a couple of things that really stood out for me that I had to learn. And first is, you know, you have to be disciplined. You have to, you know, be aware that there are tons of distractions at home and how to avoid them. So that's super important. But there's four ideas that I really wanted to share from that experience and from what I read that can really help you. So. But when you can effectively figure out how to work from Home like I finally did after years and years and years of trial and error. You know, that's when the magic can happen. That's how when we talk about high performance, we talk about not burning out or not destroying your relationships or your body in the process. So having some healthy tips and strategies when you're working at home can really make the difference in your life. So the first thing to do is to make sure you've set up your environment. You know, if you're going to be doing a lot of video conferencing, you want to make sure you have some lights. You want to make sure that you have whatever camera using about eye level, you know, from you, so you're not like cranking your neck. Plus you look a little bit better on the camera that way. You know, do you have like a dedicated spot? That's something that's very helpful. And is it set up in a way that's not cluttered and that you can get to work when you need to, but it's also kind of like the signal to the folks in your house that when you're in that zone, it's business time, it's time to work. So, all right, so second big idea for you. So the first is set up your environment. Second is to, you know, have a schedule and routines set up. So if you don't operate out of your calendar, I would suggest you do that. And it's really important to be planning the day and communicating that with the folks in your house. So, like, I have a conference call at 10:00 today. Hey, my wife Ashley. I'm gonna need you to not be yelling into the phone at that time or to make sure that you don't need to come into our office slash bedroom to get clothes and whatnot. So there's a little bit of like, just logistics at home that you have to consider. So you don't have like your family members walking naked behind you or in their underwear. People, I guess, would want to see that, but it doesn't really help your relationship. Uh, so. But yeah, so what, you know, what's your schedule? What routines do you have so that you're ready to focus, that you're up and ready? Like this morning show that I've been doing for the last four months now, which is kind of nuts, is one of the things that, you know, is a routine of the day that I'm working up to do, you know, get the show ready. So that gets me out of bed. It gets me, you know, in a, you know, today A nicer polo shirt than the T shirts I usually use. But usually I'm cleaned up, usually I've had coffee, usually I'm ready to go. And this is a really good way to start the day with some momentum. And that's really important to me. But you know, what is that for you? Like, what early morning routines do you have and what things do you do during the day to make sure that you have like little breaks to rest your eyes if you're looking at the computer all the time, or just to kind of clear your head so you can think clearly about your work. So these schedules and routines can be highly, highly effective and I would actually say necessary when you're working from home. So first thing, set up your environment. Second thing, have your schedule and routines all set up. The third thing is to, it's more like the social things. So how are you communicating with the people on your team? You know, so outside of the house, how are you communicating with all the folks that live in the same space as you? Again, to make sure you're not stepping on each other or putting people in awkward situations so that it operates a lot smoother or that people know like, hey, this is a work time. And when this is a work time, I'm not talking to you or I'm not paying you attention or I'm totally focused on this so you don't be offended if I'm not responding or whatnot. So good boundary setting stuff in any environment, but very necessary when you're at home. And also it's all about communicating value or boundaries. So when you're talking with your work, you're like, I will work from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon and then after that, like, don't expect me to be on. And I know like maybe you have a job where your customer service and you are expected to, but you know, you should have some time during the day where you can eat, you can take care of yourself, you should have a decent sleep schedule. And those are like non negotiables. So make sure that you're voicing that, that you're working with whoever you need to to make sure that you have that stuff carved out every day so you don't burn out my friends. Okay, the last point that I'll do about working from home. So the first is set up your environment. Second is schedule and routines. Third is communication and the social aspect and boundaries. There's a lot more than, I guess, three points. But the final point is to really think about what your work Habits are so a lot of people, when they first start working from home, they have a huge productivity and know, surge. And then as they go along and starts to become more normalized, that's when you know habits that distract you could creep in. So if you are the type of person that has the TV on the background, if it stays in the background, you're not paying attention. Totally awesome. If you're noticing that like you have this habit and you like work and then you like zone out for an hour and a half on the TV instead of doing your work, it might be a habit that you need to change. And so having this awareness of how your work habits change when you go from the office to home or things that are not helping you focus or move your important projects either personally or career wise forward can really make a huge, huge difference. So Those are my 4ish points on how to work from home more effectively. So you're not living at work. You know, again, like that was the title of this. Are you working from home? Are you living from work? Because when you're living at work and your work is your home, that's when we see burnout, that's when we see stress from the job, that's when, you know, weird things start to happen. And I don't want that for you. I want you to feel like you got this because you do. I mean, it's huge opportunity to be working from home. It's a huge opportunity to be more productive, to maybe see your family a lot more than you had before. So there's a lot of really good things about it. But we don't want you to start hating your job because you're always working. So that's the thought of the week. I hope this serves you. If you guys have any routines or habits or how you set up your environment, you know, take a picture and like post it in a comment below this video or just say what you do. I'm always interested to seeing how people have their spaces set up or weird things they do with their schedule that really, really work for them. So I encourage you to do that. Again, if you are watching this video and you haven't followed or liked the page either at Instagram, Facebook or YouTube, be sure you do that so you get these updates. And you could always go to SeanButner.com to sign up for the newsletter to get the weekly emails on the Friday video. So I hope you guys loved this video. I love doing this for you. Got some cool things coming for you in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned. I hinted at a group coaching thing and I have another project in the works that I'll tease here, but stay tuned for that and I'll tell you all about it. So. All right, guys, have a great weekend. Have you know, Happy Friday if you're watching this live right now. And yeah, go out there, have more joy, growth and impact in your communities. Okay, Take care, guys.