You're probably at home right now.
It’s that Covid-19 thing. We’re all at home right now, actually, thanks to Coronavirus.
Maybe you're working. Maybe you're just surviving. Both?
Look, I feel your pain. I've worked at home since 1993. We've had 14 kids.
Yes, 14. Here's a mind-blowing statistic about that: My wife has had babies in four different decades.
Think about that for a minute ... or not.
We even home schooled them. There were plenty of times I had more people in my house than were in the office.
When I took an office job a few months ago, my 26-year-old son asked what it was like for me to actually work.
I think he meant to ask what it was like for me to actually GO to work. At least, that's what I'd like to think he meant.
I know your highs. Such as naptime for the kids during a teleconference when you don't have to be on mute the whole time.
I feel your lows. Such as every other time during the day when you have to be on mute the whole time.
I've actually conducted interviews as a newspaper reporter while changing a diaper. One time, one of my toddlers was having a nuclear meltdown while I was interviewing the county’s lead prosecuting attorney. He asked if there was a violent crime taking place in my house.
Maybe you're like me and have these cute French doors for your office. Not the best decision ... a bank vault door would've been better.
I can't see through the lower glass panes because there's so much peanut butter and jelly and facial smudges on it.
I should be thrilled my kids and grandkids want to go to work with me, however unnerving it is to have them loitering outside my office staring at me with their faces pressed against the glass.
I feel like I should contact HR.
Do you think they could help me out? Me neither.
I’ll survive this. The muting, the wincing when I can’t mute on a GoToMetting or teleconference and there’s “background noise” of the “violent crime” sort that’s drowning out the professional banter.
Sigh. What can you do?
Here’s what I can do. Here are a few tips for you from a half-life of working at home.
1) Have a morning routine. For me, I get up while the house is quiet -- no small feat in this casa -- get some coffee and have some alone time. Typically, I spend some time reading my Bible and journaling. Sometimes it includes going for a run. I like to cook and might fix breakfast for my family. I have to build in some time for that because breakfast could involve a quadruple batch of my famous oatmeal pancakes. It works out to about 30 pancakes or so. That's no lie.
2) Get dressed for work. It's a psychological thing for me and it might be for you. Sure I've worked in my jammies. Like all day. There's just something for me about getting dressed. It might be jeans and a t-shirt but it just feels like a transition for me.
3) Blessed are the flexible. It's not going to be perfect at your home. Remember, though, everyone is in the same boat as you. Their dog is barking and their kids are hollering -- maybe both. Then you can't unsee some of the things the kids are doing now that they're cooped up at home all day ... so take a breather. Check out your garden you're planting like millions of other Americans. I played lots of short Wiffle ball games with my kids on "slow news" days. I've got making simple crusty bread down to a science that takes hardly any time at all -- throw the ingredients together early in the afternoon, let the dough rise for a few hours, toward the end of the day it's oven time -- and it's less of an interruption than if I were in an office having co-workers drop by my cubicle all day.
4) You've got this. Haven't you always risen to the occasion at work? So what's different now?