In the recent days, the corona virus – COVID-19, has led to Lockdown and Social Distancing which has eventually changed the life of every individual. This situation has made everyone to adapt a different lifestyle from the routine they follow. Especially, it has changed the working environment for all professionals.
We, professionals either an IT employee or Coacher or Practitioner would have followed a routine timing of working from 9 am to 5 pm, or sometimes 10 am to 6 pm. Now, this has been turned to Work from Home model. But I am still wondering does it change our work timings?
Definitely NOT.
Option of working from home (WFH) is good and it does offer few flexibilities like whole day stay at home, hot lunch, instant tea/coffee, no traffic tension, little relaxation, but when it comes to the factor of work timings, it is not flexible. Most of the companies follow the routine work timings i.e 9 am to 6 pm (at the max).
Initially, these routine timings created an annoying feel during this WFH, but when we look from the work perspective, these are the best timings to work. Especially when we work together as a team, these timings are preferable. Also, these timings offer many benefits to both individuals as well as to their teams. Some of them are:
- Keep everyone connected
- Able to reach peers whenever required
- Complete tasks on time and satisfying the client needs
- Any discussions / meetings happen without leaving anyone
- Productive outputs without any distractions
Works can be done better, faster, perfect, on time under the direct vision of Managers / Team Leaders. Does the same tasks can be done if at all we are not under direct vision with this remote working or when no one is hanging on your shoulders? While staying at home, working from 9 to 6 seems to be a challenging task. We might feel bored, thought of taking a nap, miss our group lunch and our whole world seems to be different without stepping out of home.
To get through this challenging task, one requires self-motivation and self-discipline. From my point of view, self-discipline comes automatically if the person is happy which actually leads to self-motivation.
Based on my experience, I have listed few points to do work happily which will automatically lead you for a productive, well organized and disciplined work. These points will certainly aid one to check another look in their associated works and assist them to do a better work by affording productive outputs during these COVID-19 days.
Let us, keep this as two proportions:
- Be Happy
- Begin a day with VG (Virtual Gatherings)
- Plan for team activity
- Set up a workplace
- Self-Discipline
- List all the tasks
- Prioritize the task
- Stick to CLOCK
And, here we go:
1. Begin a day with VG (Virtual Gatherings)
During this remote working, we don’t have the opportunity to visit our office or meet our colleagues in person. To stay connected like office and to get in touch, schedule a meeting, preferably video conferencing with team mates during the start of the day. We have plenty of video conferencing Apps and Tools that are available to connect with people anywhere, anytime. Just a Hi-Hello with Good Morning message is well enough to start the day.
This online connect will certainly energize our day by giving an immense pleasure to start with positive thoughts and stay in a happy state throughout the day. The depth of meeting face-to-face will bring more positive vibes and connectivity in each one as the day progresses.
2. Plan for team activity
For conducting team activity, it is not mandatory to be physically present and can possibly be done with this remote working style too. Through video conferencing, we can organize various activities like “time to share a fun moment at work”, “sharing our learning/lessons from legends”, “quiz”, “building story on instant pic”, or else, asking a person to share a quote along with their own experience will definitely bring fun and also motivate peers.
Though we are not near, these types of activities will definitely bring more interaction within the team and brings out a state of happiness to do works from home.
3. Set up a workplace:
Create a workplace similar to office preferably with a chair, table for laptop/desktop, plug-in socket nearby or at least a separate space with less disturbance and noise. Such office like environment will be of much helpful to focus on the work even when we are not under direct monitoring.
Once the focus is initiated, the completion of assigned work on time automatically comes in line along with perfection. Automatically, there comes the appreciation followed by joy.
And, I am sure, our family members will understand the importance of work and will not disturb us during work time. (For a temporary replacement of appreciation, I am sure you will receive scolding’s from Home, if work extends beyond 8 hours)
4. List all the tasks
As a first step, list out all the tasks that you want to complete / assigned to you. It can be either assigning tasks, email to your Manager, sending out meeting notes, etc. In addition to listing, take care of below points for better working:
- Have steps / plan on how to carry out or complete each task, as proper planning of tasks yields the expected output
- Define timeline for each task so that planning and completion of task will be better. Timelines may vary as Short time tasks (say 1-2 hrs), Long-time tasks (say 1 day), Long-time tasks with 2 or 3 people involved, tasks are of high importance, task which requires immediate attention
Make sure these listing should be done before start of the work J or can be done within 10 minutes in start for the day.
5. Prioritize the task
After listing, next comes the prioritizing, which is considered to be one of the most important and critical factors in work. The prioritization of tasks in a proper manner yields the best results. Along with completion of tasks, prioritization also occupies a major part in analysing an individual’s capability. This ability of proper prioritizing comes from various factors including: Proper understanding of task requirement, deciding its importance, broad visualization of how to proceed with the task, considering xyz factors, Analysing the pros & cons, etc.
Also, there might be few tasks which will come through our windows not through our doors. Analyse, define and go ahead with them.
6. Stick to CLOCK
Time always matters and is an undo-factor in life. Whatever the tasks assigned, set a time limit to complete. It would be better if you set an early timeline to complete such tasks which will help to do effective working. Each time when you work, try to complete them prior to previous timings which will automatically boost you to do more works and yield best output.
Finally, complete your assigned tasks and send the updates to team whatever may be the situation. Make your day the best one.
A defined way of working will certainly bring more discipline along with the intention to do BETTER and BEST…!
Discipline comes from doing Right things;
Right things come from Focus / Planning;
Focus comes from Motivation;
Motivation comes from Positivity;
Positivity comes from Happiness.
If someone defined the way to be happy, automatically motivation and discipline will join its hands.
BE HAPPY
AND BE DISCIPLINED…!
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