Making 'work-from-home' work for you

Deepanshu Sharma

Best practices to staying productive, happy and healthy

I wanted to stay away from adding to all sorts of advice flowing around, hence I waited till I learnt from my personal experiences.

I realised that this new mode of working is impacting on three planes of our existence - mind, body and soul. What I am sharing below is useful even for ‘a-day-at-the-office’, they have become even more critical when our 'regular schedules' get disrupted. Use whatever you find works for you.

MIND - control your mind if you want to assume control over your body and soul

Dive within: Spend some time with yourselves, to reflect and build mindfulness

Learn a new skill: a new technical skill / a language / drawing / painting / cooking / musical instrument / yoga / star gazing (ideally at the same time every day)

Take control of stimulants: don’t get influenced by dubious sources or unconfirmed news (refer to a ‘credible’ source, selected after due diligence)

BODY - working from home may lead to lack of self-discipline... which is best avoided

Health:

i. Sleep well (as much as your body needs; in sync with your circadian clock)

ii. Do some light exercise (ideally early on in the day)

iii. Don’t sit in one place for long – move around every 30 mins or so

iv. Get at least 15 minutes of sunlight, everyday

Hygiene: go beyond bathing and washing hands – give your brain the right signals by dressing up like a regular day at the office

Hunger: with restricted movement, proper eating habits become even more critical

i. Right QUANTITY | Right QUALITY | Right TIME

ii. Stay hydrated

iii. Some useful links - Saatvik meal - LINK | Vatta dosha diet - LINK | Kapha dosha diet - LINK | Pitta dosha diet - LINK | Hara Hachi Bu - LINK

SOUL - Use every trick in the book to release good hormones, and ward off negativity

Relationships: Stay connected with your loved ones and try to mend old or broken relationships

Positivity: Lean towards people, books, news or movies which uplift your mood, and build happy and positive thoughts (avoid building negativity, at all costs)

Follow your passion: whether it is to play a musical instrument / meditate / paint / cook / tend to the garden (but if possible, stick to the same routine every day)

And finally, do remember the famous words from CS Lewis - “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching”. The real character and professionalism of an individual shows up when they do the right thing even if there is no one to supervise or ask questions. The only person you are answerable to is yourself.

(you may have several learnings from your personal experiences, so please do share for everyone's benefit)