A circumstance beyond our control, oh oh oh oh (The Pretenders)

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Have I mentioned that I don't enjoy working from home (WFH)? I have? Okay. But it bears repeating. I don't wanna be a WFHer.

My brother has done this for 23 years. Twenty. Three. Years.

After 5 weeks, I've had enough.

Funnily enough I seem to be in a minority (hahaha) - given that most of my teachers are keen to WFH.

I have coped. Just.

My four top tips for coping? HYG.

1 Even though I no longer have a 50 minute commute I wake at the same time (4.45am) and follow my usual getting ready for school routines. My commute time? Reading. As in books. I 'arrive' at work at my usual time (around 7.00am) and check emails before the first Zoom meeting of the day - usually at 8.15am). Routines man, routines.

2 I dress for work. In my case, as a school principal I always aim for a professional look, as in - I wear a tie to work, so I put my tie on. After my dress shirt.

3 I'm doing urgent important work pretty much exclusively. I don't know about you, but the email flow has gone ballistic. Rather than check my emails 3 or 4 times a day, I've upped that to about 10-12 times a day to keep up. Those emails often generate 'work' so that has taken up a large part of my day (along with Zoom meetings, calling into zoom classes and phone calls). That 'work' often generates sent emails - so I'm part of the problem as well. Anyway. I digress. Needs must is the order of my day. Needs must.

4 At the end of my work day I remove my tie, change clothes and aim (aim) to avoid checking work emails until the next morning (fear of them mounting up is why I included the stress on 'aim').