How to work from home and still keep your sanity

It’s October already. This means I’ve been working from home for over 7 months now. I remember the exact date of when that all started. It was Friday, March 13th. Even though I’m not superstitious, only now I realize the significance of that date. Even before the current pandemic, I never liked working from home. I just enjoy being amongst colleagues too much and have been a proponent of open workspaces for over two decades.

But to be fair, I can’t complain. I have a lovely family, my kids are old enough to take care of themselves during the day, we have a nice house with lots of windows and a decent garden, and the weather has been exceptionally good this year. I have my own small alcove in the living room with a relatively powerful all-in-one PC and a second 24 inch screen that’s there for the time being. My wife is an HR officer and also works in the living room (if she’s not at the office). The kids both go to school, but when they are off, they often sit there behind their (2nd hand) laptops as well.

But despite the friendly circumstances, no need to commute to the office anymore, and the general flexibility that working from home gives you, it is still not my thing. But that didn’t stop me from trying to do whatever I can to make the experience bearable for myself. I already blogged about distributed teams a while ago, but this is different. Given the signs that this isn’t going to change for another six months or so, let me share some of the things that have helped me stay sane.