Working At Home: A Freelancer's Guide
From running an events company to editing a magazine, it is going on ten years since I had worked in an office. Here are some things I have learnt about working from home.
At the onset of lockdown back in March, I found myself returning to an old habit that helped me during periods of anxiety: Making a list of things each morning that I am grateful for.
Today’s list read something like this:
It is a beautiful spring day
The hydrangeas are starting to bloom in their terracotta pots
My small city garden which never fails to bring me joy
Perhaps now I will read through that pile of books
I am glad I got our kitchen lights fixed last month
Always make your bed
After peeling back the duvet, open the windows to air the room and bed for at least twenty minutes. Use the time to have a shower or let the dog out. After, make the bed in full, even with the fancy cushions. This is your first win of the day, knowing you’ll be climbing into smoothed sheets and plumped pillows at the end of the day.
Establish other simple rituals
If, like me, you naturally wake with the light, that can be overly early in the summer months, so be sure to start gently. Make a pot of tea and climb back into bed with a book.
What we look at first thing in the morning helps establish patterns for the rest of the day, so try to avoid scrolling headlines or instagram before you’ve at least drunk your tea, or enjoyed a rejuvinating shower.
Tune into radio shows or podcasts
Whether you’re a Greg James on Radio 1 or Chris Evans on Virgin Radio listener, or, like a dear earlier riser pal of mine, have the shipping forecast as your morning preset, hearing a familiar voice at a similar time each day can be hugely uplifting, providing both reassurance and normality.
Weekly podcasts can also provide a balm for the soul, whether you want to brush up on your favourite period in history, or escape with a travel cast to a farflung destination, these can be the ideal accompaniment whilst emptying the dishwasher or watering the pots.
Keep moving
With gyms and parks now closed, the web has come alive with talented teachers streaming their usual classes and workouts from hurriedly cleared-out living rooms. Regular pilates, albeit now in my spare room, has definitely helped me to feel brighter and more connected with the outside world.
It’s reassuirng to see the familiar face of my teacher, and follow a lesson which requires engagement from both mind and body in equal measure, allows me to escape for an hour.
Click here to check out pilates classes with the amazing Kath Pentecost whose classes I love most.
Maintain a designated work space
A corner or surface, just for work, that can be tidied away after hours, is hugely important.
Years ago, in a shared flat, my desk was in my bedroom, which had a really negative impact on my mental health and taught me the importance of designated spaces. These days I have a small study/come dressing of my own. It has a radio and a moodboard over my desk, where I pin ideas, articles and postcards from friends.
On the flip side, award-winning Madeline Miller was recently forced to reveal to a Sunday Times journalist that she penned most of the achingly beautiful The Song of Achilles from her bed. And Phoebe Waller-Bridge admitted the same when interviewed by Elizabeth Day - so maybe a desk isn’t everything.
Not every call needs to be a video call
The spike in subscriptions to Zoom and Houseparty has shown the importance of facetime. But for me, an old-fashioned phone call still works best. It leaves you free to gaze out of the window and helps you focus on - and really listen to - what is being said, rather than being distracted by the questionable contents of the caller’s bookshelves.
If you must be on video, pick a comfy seat with good light, with somewhere to rest your device above chin height - Tom Ford gave the masterclass on this in The New York Times. I also enjoy those who involve cats, dogs and houseplants.
Accept distractions
Even the most successful freelancers I know still struggle with these, be they children, daytime TV or laundry piling up.
Stick a wash on by all means, but meticulously ironing pillow cases rather than making that tricky work conversation is just procrastination! Decide what is really necessary and where get it out of the way first thing, or dedicate a portion of the day, such as after 4pm, with a pot of tea, to tick them off.
Take some air
Regardless of the weather, you must leave your cosy enclave at least once per day. Hone your wfh mental health by making a point of going out each day - for fresh bread or coffee or a slice of afternoon cake as a reward for tackling that budget proposal.
Even a simple walk around the block saves the excitable puppy 'thank heavens you're here to talk to me' ambushing of any co-habiters each evening.
Set your own signals for when your work day ends.
For a long time I thought I just loved baths. Until I realised that I run one after shutting my laptop down and stretching out, as a marker that the work day has ended.
Because I don’t ‘leave’ my office or have a homeward journey to decompress on, I long ago inadvertently established this as the marker of my work day being done.
“I love a heart bath with Epsom Salts and a candle flickering nearby to help mark the end of my working day” - Arianna Huffington
