Covid-19 – How to beat cabin fever while WFH

During these trying times it is easy to get scared, worried, bored which may be called as Cabin Fever. The entire world is practically shutdown or shutting down as I write due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This has caused widespread panic, deaths, business loss, difficulties and has constricted our lives to stay indoors and isolate ourselves to protect ourselves and our fellow humans.

Which brings us to WFH or Work From Home. For some of us it isn’t too hard nor is it unusual while for some of us it isn’t what we are used to – WFH. In fact, there are many organizations who had implemented various WFH strategies long back and then there are those who purely work remotely – with personnel sometimes spread across different continents and timezones. But for many of us it is something new and may even scare us a bit. Fear not – we’ve got a few tips.

Some things we have adopted at Playbook may be of help to others. These are some simple stuff we try to follow to keep ourselves calm, (reasonably) happy and productive.

• Try and wake up at the same time as you would normally do if you were going to the office physically
• Start the day with a good breakfast
• Definitely exercize
• Dress comfortably
• Connect with your colleagues via your company’s preferred communication channel (Slack, Phone, Whatsapp, etc)
• Have a clear plan of action for the day (applicable always, isn’t it?)
• Take breaks to walk around, stretch and hydrate
• Leave an AFK message if you are not on your laptop and the reason why
• Be courteous and polite to your customers and colleagues (and your family members who may be running afoot)
• End the day with a mental (or take notes) of your day, activities completed, missed
• And plan the next day’s work beforehand – create tasks / activities in your favorite app.
• Watch TV or play board games with family members (or online with friends if you are currently single)
• Try and sleep at the same time as you would normally on a working day

Some tips (more words @@) for some of the above items.

Exercise / Workout

• Stretches and Yoga are helpful
• If you have access to stairs just walk up and down (I do this since in our apartment building no one uses stairs)
• If you have even one dumbbell at home use it – there are a myriad videos available on YouTube. Just a simple search ;-).
• If you are into strength building – again there are quite a few YouTube videos on how to use your own body weight to achieve your goals until you can hit the gym again.

Clothes / Dress

• Business casuals are preferred – unless you have stringent customer facing requirements
• Wear comfortable clothes. Some people prefer wearing their regular office wear to keep themselves focussed. It is totally up to you – as long as it is sensible 🙂

Breaks

• It is really better if you can get up and just walk around the house / room every now and then (once in 45 – 75 minutes is my personal routine depending upon my current work)
• Do stretch, may be a couple of sit ups, rest your fingers (and your bottom if you’ve been sitting for too long)
• Try and drink some freshly squeezed juice (if available) more than coffee / tea
• Maybe listen to some soft music (or go and head bang if that’s what gets you going)

After all, we are trying to beat CABIN FEVER! And be productive at the same time. So – do not forget to relax a bit in-between your work.

Do you have something to add or comment upon? Feel free to share and add on this and spread the messages to friends and family who may need this.