Completing a Job While Family on Quarantined With You
We understand that everyone has been affected differently by the recent pandemic. If you do freelance graphic design work or work as a freelancing content writer, you may have been barely affected at all. You may be used to working in sweats from home, and the only change that has occurred over the last few weeks is that you have ordered your groceries online instead of going into the store.
Others of you may be feeling as if your life has turned topsy-turvy. Whether you are a member of the freelance marketplace or a member of the workforce now required to work from home, you may find yourself surrounded by your babies, toddlers, school-aged children, teenagers, college-aged children and (gasp) your spouse.
How in the heck is anyone supposed to get any work done with all of these distractions? Here are some tips on how to be productive when your family is quarantined with you.
Get up early.
Sorry. We would love to give you a magic formula that would promise an increase in productivity without any pain. That’s just not feasible. Instead, get up as early as you can to take advantage of a quiet house before your kids and spouse awake. Of course, your labradoodle will get up with you, thinking that he is in for some extra playtime, but at least everyone else will be quiet while you are productive.
Dust off your noise-canceling headphones.
You were excited to get noise-canceling headphones because you thought they would work great the next time you were on a late-night flight. Little did you know, that those headphones would be just the trick to block out the constant whining of your teenaged daughter.
Do you not have noise-canceling headphones? Just use your earbuds and classical music to try to block out the extra sound.
Tag-Team Parenting
Some of you having whining four-year-olds instead of 14-year-olds. If that is the case, you can’t ignore the screams coming from upstairs because they could actually be screams of pain instead of screams of irritation.
If you and your spouse are both trying to work from home, you may need to work out a system of tag-team parenting. You can keep the kids quiet throughout the morning, and he can do the same for you in the late afternoon and evening.
Use Screens to Keep Your Kids Quiet
We know that your parents and pediatrician have warned you about the detrimental effects of your kids having too much screen time. But during a global pandemic, let’s all give ourselves permission to bend the rules. You have to be on a conference call, and you can’t be interrupted. This means that it is video game time for your grade-school kids. You know that your kid playing video games is the only way you can get guaranteed silence for any length of time. You can go back to normal parenting when the world returns to normal.
Hang a Stop Sign on Your Door
Perhaps the problem isn’t kids. Maybe your spouse has a chatty personality and is excited to spend extra time with you. If this describes your situation, you may consider printing out an image of a stop sign to tape to your office door. Lovingly remind your spouse that when the sign is up, you cannot be interrupted.
Run Your Household as Efficiently as Possible
Think of the next month or two as boot camp. You know it’s going to suck, but you don’t have a choice in the matter. While you may be tempted to grab the remote and a bottle of wine each night, instead try to run your household as efficiently as possible. Plan meals, keep the house tidy and do a bit of laundry every day. You will feel better, and after a few months, you may not even return to your slovenly ways.
Pay Attention to Your Mental Health
We are all feeling stress right now. We are frightened about our health, the health of our loved ones, and the economy.
To relieve some of the stress you may be feeling, remove yourself from social media for a time. We know that this takes social distancing to a whole new level, but it may help keep you calm and focused until this all goes away.
Limit your exposure to the news. You don’t need to watch your county’s medical expert’s daily report. You don’t need to know how many more cases of the virus were found in your community, and you don’t need to be updated every day about the number of deaths.
Instead, stay home, wash your hands, try to work as much as possible, and stay healthy.
This article was originally posted at Freelancing Buzz.
from Freelancing Buzz https://freelancingbuzz.com/how-to-get-work-done-when-your-family-is-quarantined-with-you/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-get-work-done-when-your-family-is-quarantined-with-you
via https://freelancingbuzz.com
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