My best tips on working from home
Oh, hi friends!
A Brass Ring reader emailed yesterday asking for advice on working from home. Here’s what I told her I’ve learned after six years of trial and error (and it still changes every day):
1. For the love of God, make evening plans.
If I don't, I keep pushing off and pushing off my work and end up doing the majority of it after dinner or into the wee hours. Going to the theater at night gives me a deadline for my work! Even if your evening plan is "watch two episodes of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel at 7pm" try to give yourself an end time for the day.
2. Figure out how long stuff takes you.
I'm the queen of under-estimating, so I started to get serious: how long will that email response take? How many hours will it take to write a story? When you know something will take an hour or two, you can slot it into your calendar more easily.
3. Mental model your day.
This is such a big one that I've forgotten lately! The day before, or even the morning of, I sometimes "mental model" my day and literally break it down, like, "run at 7am, shower and breakfast at 8, sit down at desk at 8:30, check email until 8:45, brainstorm story ideas from 8:45 to 10" and so on. It's so boring but actually keeps you honest.
4. Break your day into 15-minute chunks.
My failsafe is using the Pomodoro Technique, which is basically a fancy way of saying "work for 15 minutes" and then take a 5-minute break. Usually just the act of setting the timer — I use www.moosti.com — will get me in a groove and I'll keep working.
5. Stop cleaning out the inbox.
During my first couple of years freelancing, I spent at least 2-3 hours a day reading newsletters, the news, cleaning out my inbox, etc. I was obsessed with "clearing it" all. But then I noticed that I wasn't often getting story ideas from all this email reading, and having 58 tabs open on my browser was more stressful than helpful. Now, if I don't have time to read something right away, I’ll email it to myself—or add it to my newsletter doc—and get around to it later. Or I might not. I gave up the need to click every non-urgent email! (Only checking your email every few hours is also very helpful.)
6. Track your time.
Honestly, shaming myself is super helpful. I keep RescueTime on my computer and every week it tells me how much time I spent on Facebook, or Twitter, or Pages, or Final Draft. Last year, I wrote a piece about using this tool and the difference between creating and consuming (only read it if you have time!)
7. Stop cleaning your apartment.
You can vacuum later. At the end of the day, it feels better to sit in a dirty apartment with your important work done, than to sit in a clean apartment with big unfinished work projects hanging over your
8. Take naps.
Because why not?
From this Insta.
Been thinking a lot about growing into new spaces and what that actually looks like. (h/t Jenn Haltman)
This 90-second Tony acceptance speech by Lin-Manuel Miranda made me tear up. In 90 seconds!
What’s next, he asks? What’s next?
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara