For many of us, it has now become part of everyday life and – after a more or less bumpy settling-in period – we’re now getting really good at it. For some, however, it may still seem challenging and take some getting used to: working from home during the coronavirus pandemic – the home office.
How can you make a success of working from home in a home office?
Those who have their own study with good technical facilities for undisturbed phone calls, video conferences or recording lessons – or ‘studying in front of a screen’ in web seminars – can count themselves lucky. If, on top of that, there are few potential distractions – for example, the children are being looked after, your personal mobile is set to silent, all the necessary work materials – and even a cup of tea or coffee – are to hand – working from home can sometimes be even more effective than usual in the office or in a university lecture theatre. If, on top of that, you start to experience that ‘flow’ sensation – where you become completely absorbed in your work and it seems to take care of itself – you run the risk of working significantly more than intended (… and you certainly don’t want your line manager or professor to think that you’re putting in less effort at home than usual).
A pre-planned daily routine is therefore crucial for making the most of your time working from home. This involves not only structuring your day precisely, formulating and writing down tasks and goals for the day, but also scheduling breaks and meals, as well as the end of the working day and your subsequent leisure activities. It’s also helpful to get dressed for work – just as you would before a day at university (perhaps a little more casually) – freshen up and ‘indulge’ in your usual morning routine (shower, breakfast, morning exercises, this and that...). This is because rituals provide us with stability and direction in situations where there is little or no externally imposed structure. At the start of each day, you should discuss the day ahead and each person’s tasks with housemates and family members – including children. It’s also very important to praise and reward yourself and others, for example when a task on the ‘to-do list’ has been successfully completed or when the children have kept themselves happily occupied on their own for quite a while. Praise is good for everyone!
What should you do if working from home becomes a burden and you’re struggling to get any work done?
Even if it sounds a bit clichéd, in this case it’s spot on: ‘We’re only human!’. We aren’t always well-rested, highly motivated, in peak physical condition or as steady as a rock every single day. At times like these, it’s important to focus on the positives and take stock of the good things – ideally, even jotting them down on a note and pinning it up somewhere clearly visible near your home office workspace. What’s good for me about working from home and these new working conditions? What benefits do I, my family, my partner or my flatmate gain from this? Which of these benefits would I like to carry over into the ‘post-coronavirus’ period? It is often helpful to remind ourselves that the current far-reaching restrictions on our daily lives are temporary and that life will gradually return to normal in the foreseeable future. It helps to imagine how we will return to (almost) normal, familiar and cherished routines, and how that will make us feel. How about using the time we’ve gained – perhaps because we’re no longer stuck in traffic on our way to work every working day – for ourselves? To pause, reflect, meditate, plan for the future?
What can we do for our mental health?
We’re all familiar with the saying about a healthy mind in a healthy body. It’s not just during the coronavirus pandemic, when we’re spending most of our time at home to help ‘flatten the curve’, that a healthy diet and regular exercise are extremely important. We should value our bodies and our mental health and take steps to look after them. Whether that’s a daily jog outdoors or a newly discovered hobby like ‘yoga with YouTube tutorials’ – if it makes you feel good and brings you happiness, it’s the right thing to do. Many of us are also sorely missing cultural events at the moment. Until we can attend events again, cultural organisations are using their creativity to stream things like concerts online, publish podcasts on interesting topics or feature ‘our favourite films’ in their programmes. Fortunately, some are increasingly tailoring their programmes to the needs of children and young people, who tend to miss their social (play) interactions particularly keenly during the coronavirus pandemic. We should make the most of these offerings! It’s heartening
that it’s not always just about the coronavirus (even if it sometimes feels that way). In general – it is better to manage the flood of information about the pandemic for your own wellbeing and to obtain your information exclusively from reliable sources, so as not to give rise to unnecessary uncertainty and unfounded fears. However, if fears, feelings of loneliness, sadness, nervousness, irritability, insomnia or anxiety are playing an increasingly frequent role in our thoughts or even our actions, it is good and advisable to seek support. First and foremost, communicating with friends, family members, colleagues or fellow students, and maintaining social contact via social media, video calls, telephone calls or even ‘face to face’ – whilst naturally maintaining a distance of 1.5 to 2 metres – are extremely important for all of us in times of ‘physical distancing’ and fulfil a fundamental human need. Why not arrange to have breakfast together via video call before your study group begins at the agreed time? How about a game of chess or Scrabble over the phone or via video call? Unusual times call for unusual, new ideas! And
it’s worth thinking about who might be pleased to receive a call from me or a message on social media, and whose spirits I could lift in this way. After all, helping others makes you happy too! But
what if the options mentioned so far aren’t available, or if emotional and/or social difficulties can no longer be managed alone and seem insurmountable?
In such cases, there are professional support services available that are easy to access, can be obtained quickly and are usually free of charge. For example: the Corona Hotline run by the German Psychologists’ Association
Tel.: 0800-7772244; Telephone Counselling Service Tel.: 0800-111 0 111 or 0800-111 0 222; Depression Helpline Tel.: 0800-3344533. All offer counselling in German and, in most cases, also in English (depending on the counsellor).
At the university, students can contact the ‘Psychological Counselling Service for Students at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences’, Dipl.-Psych. Pia Weigelt-Lindemann. This service will be available again from May 2020. You can find all the relevant information here.
