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Many of us are very used to remote working, and it’s formed part of our working rhythm for a while. Perhaps a day a week in client spaces or coffee shops, at the kitchen table or in a designated room at home. We’ve championed how effective remote working can be, and realised how productive many of us can be!
Now many more of us are choosing to take the Government advice and stay at home to work, for what is likely to be an unprecedented number of days. And if we don’t plan our remote time intentionally, the risk to our mental and physical wellbeing is at stake.
Back to back calls and virtual meetings will be the ruin of you (and your back according to my chiropractor!) .. and could lead to poor decision making, ineffective collaboration and time wasted.
Don’t get stuck at the desk! Try to:
- schedule any calls or virtual meetings for max 50 mins in an hour, using the 10 mins to get up, take a walk, step into your garden or balcony and breathe
- look for opportunities to walk and talk. National Trust properties have announced they are opening park and gardens for free. If you’re fit and well, take a short drive and then plug in those earpods and walk in splendid isolation, while your colleagues do the same. If you have local parks and gardens, use these spaces too
- take regular refuel and water breaks away from the desk. Step into a different room to read that article, to eat, to stretch, to connect with friends and family regularly throughout the day
- create balance across the day. Ringfence pockets of space in your diary to exercise, to work on projects that aren’t ‘screen based’, that allow you thinking space and encourage your colleagues to do the same
While we are all rightly focused on physical wellbeing (for ourselves and our communities) right now, these small tweaks will enable us to maintain good levels of mental resilience too
