Home office - how to survive it (and not go crazy)

Anyone who has tried to work with an interactive and attention-seeking toddler who is going through a phase of tantrums without the help of grandparents/caretakers/direct coercion methods can high-five me and then cry together about our fate. But let's not get the wrong idea - the same goes for any subtenant who doesn't quite understand the concept of boundaries, whether we're talking about a life partner or an overactive cat who doesn't understand the words 'Not on the keyboard!' and 'Finally, lie down!'

Possible solutions:

• For the mother types: you build a LEGO® palace for chickens with one hand, enter tasks into Nozbe with the other, reply to emails with the third, and chase the cat away from the keyboard with the fourth, wondering if your life will always look like this.
• For the wealthiest: you designate a workspace on the top floor of your villa. You build a beautiful home office with designer furniture, a bathroom, and a refrigerator (the refrigerator and bathroom are strategically important). Now, your family, who longs for contact, is separated from you by a locked door, stairs, a crocodile-filled moat, and a hedge. There's nothing like remote work.
• For remote ninjas: I have a perfect solution recommended by many wise and quick-to-react gentlemen during the epidemic (seriously, I haven't heard any women endorse this) - you create a space like economy class. It can be a desk in the corner of your studio apartment (yes, according to Habitat for Humanity's research, Poles still live in spaces that are too small) or even a chair that will become your command center, where your family has no access from 8 to 4. In critical situations, attach a sign that says "I'm working." NOTE: it doesn't work for children and pets who can't read. When you think about it, it also doesn't work for older children and adults. However, working in the evenings when the children are asleep works. Of course, this requires a change in habits (yours, your family's, and your co-workers'), but the profit is twofold: your lack of frustration translates into better relationships with your loved ones, and there's a chance that without constant distractions, you'll finish all your tasks in less time. If your employer can't imagine that you won't be available from 8 to 4, show them an article about asynchronous work. We also can't forget that in modern families, two people usually work, and this type of solution may be simply necessary due to the need to take care of children. Discuss together how you will divide the day so that each of you can perform your duties peacefully. Maybe there's a chance to schedule meetings conducted by Hangouts or Zoom at unusual times? After all, your clients and co-workers also have families under quarantine. Sure, all of this sounds like it requires long-term planning, but shared calendars, task management tools, and good old-fashioned verbal communication are enough to make many things much easier.

Usually, you leave home in the morning, come back late in the afternoon, and honestly, you're not interested in whether the laundry basket is overflowing with clothes or the hanging laundry has been sitting there for a week, gathering dust in the corners, the paint peeling off the wall behind the wardrobe, or the books waiting to be organized according to the universal decimal classification. You simply can't focus on these things right now.

Possible solutions:

• For horse-like people:wear a headset with flaps. You won't see anything except the monitor.
• For CEOs:delegate tasks to your partner and children so they can handle everything for you.
• For remote ninjas:Nozbe comes to the rescue again. You can enter not only work tasks but also personal ones. Each of them can be assigned a date and time for completion, and even duration and priority. This way, you can easily determine what requires the most urgent attention and what can calmly wait for a less demanding logistical time. Maybe it's time to apologize to the washing machine manual and read the section on the built-in delay function or (of course, via the Internet) get smart plugs? Or maybe you can simply combine work and pleasure and do conceptual work while exercising or ironing? Of course, I'm not advocating for multitasking, but have you never come up with a brilliant idea during training, washing, or cleaning? After all, these activities do not require special concentration.

Your child constantly wants something, your partner keeps coming with "just one question", and you feel like you can't focus on tasks as you should, so you drag your work with feelings of guilt for 15/30/120/240 minutes. You only reply to one more email. You just peek at Slack.

Possible solutions:

• For people like Ned Stark:when your partner gives you dirty looks that you're working more than eight hours again, engage them in your tasks by telling funny stories about your colleagues. Before they know it, they'll be knee-deep in your work. If that doesn't work, redirect your work email to your smartphone, install Slack, Zoom, pretend to play Pokemon... and prepare for a winter in your own relationship. However, grit your teeth, take on a survivalist mindset, and promise each other that when the quarantine is over, you'll go on a long vacation/long therapy to improve your relationship. You still answer emails during lunch.
• For bankers:at exactly 4:00 PM, you put your laptop and work phone in a safe that won't open until 8:00 AM the next day. If you don't have such a safe, see the point below.
• For remote ninjas:Ok, jokes aside, this is probably one of the most serious problems mentioned, which requires a lot of internal discipline from you. First of all, choose some specific, really comfortable place to work in your apartment. It can be the aforementioned chair, desk, or kitchen table. The only limitation is that the bed is an absolutely forbidden zone. You probably don't want memories of conversations with clients, the faces of colleagues, or thoughts of pending tasks to haunt you just before bedtime or during a romantic evening, right? We've already agreed that working after six o'clock may be unavoidable. However, you have to make sure that the total number of hours worked does not significantly exceed the statutory eight hours. You can use notebooks, time and task management apps, or just a regular alarm clock; whatever works for you will be good. It's not so much about rules as it is about the simple fact that we are less creative and productive when overworked. It doesn't help that we have been sitting in a closed space for over two weeks, which is a very unnatural situation for most of us. Don't make it harder for yourself, be good to yourselves, and don't forget about music, coffee, and hydration. :)

*Remember that COVID-19 can float in the air for up to 30 minutes and infect people up to 4.5 meters away, so taking walks around the city is not the best idea.