Welcome home

So, you're a Homer now, eh? Welcome! It seems the rest of the country (world?) is being squished back into their homes for work and school. If you have been seeing memes on the Interwebs about those introverts whose lifestyle has not changed much at all, that's me. I work from home and have done so for the better part of the last decade. And I love it. Aside from missing the ability to go hang out with friends, this "shelter in place" stuff is not really all that different from my norm. That said, at this point I would simply love to spend an afternoon at the bar watching some sort of sport. Come on virus, you're killing the Formula 1 season for us!

For those of you that are experiencing this for the first time, I thought I would offer a few suggestions on how to make your home a more effective office or study space. Chances are, you have not utilized your home in this manner aside from maybe your kids doing homework or you answering a handful of emails after hours now and again. If you are like many of my colleagues, you are competing for Internet speeds and quiet space especially if you have students in the home. Let's get rolling.

One of the main focuses for me, when I first started this gig, was simply the chair and desk I was going to use. Being an optimist, I don't think this is going to last more than a couple months, so I don't recommend you rush out and spend thousands on an office setup. That said, it IS important to have a comfortable chair and flat surface on which to work. Of course a laptop is essentially designed to be on your lap, but for those of us over the age of 30, that gets old really fast.

My main recommendation is that you maintain an awareness of your physical state after an hour or so of working. Are your shoulders tense? Is your neck cranky? Does your lower back hurt? Try and be hyper-aware of your body during this time because it is most assuredly trying to tell you something. This is truly the most important part of your work environment. You simply need to be comfortable and aiming towards an ergonomic posture.

You should be sitting upright with a straight neck and back. Your eyes should be able to look straight ahead into the middle (top and bottom) of your monitor without having to bend your neck. This can be very simply accomplished with a stack of books. For this purpose (for those of us with laptops) I strongly recommend grabbing an external keyboard and mouse. This small expense will pay huge dividends with your ability to get the screen up where it belongs. If you are simply looking down at the surface you are working on and using your laptop in that way, you will, without question, end up with aching muscles and a trip to the chiropractor.

Beyond your physical comfort, I would next encourage you to aim towards intellectual or "thinking" comfort. All day long I am listening to music. I flip around between Willy Nelson (a current favorite), Dave Matthews, 90's hip hop and various other genres that make me smile. However, when I'm really focusing on a coding problem (or writing this article) there is no music and literally no sound. I need to focus and distractions have always been an issue for me.

If there is someone else in the house (and they are gabbing away) I put in my headphones and listen to "Deep Focus" on Spotify. It is simply generic, "background" music that allows me to drown out the chatter upstairs without the need for my brain to focus on the actual music. When you first start out, take a minute to listen closely and see what distractions crop up. You may find headphones are the perfect solution to give you your own private "space" so you can get work done.

"If you have kids that are also home now, I don't think you will fare very well without a door that closes. And this actually goes for them as well," notes Badger Realty agent, Norman Head. "If the kids are also being forced to finish up the year at home, they should be able to close themselves off for a specified time and be allowed to focus on the tasks and work they have been assigned," he continued. Perhaps setting up a specified time for all of you to be quiet and working is just the ticket. It will afford you the time to get work done and create a sense of structure that they are now missing being home from school.

The last thing I think is fairly important, though mostly for non-computer based work, is lighting. I've not been in school for a few years, but I assume they still have to use a pen/pencil and paper to do SOME stuff. Make sure there's plenty of light (whether natural or artificial) in the workspace to accomplish the tasks at hand. Just like the keyboard and mouse from above, this is an expense that is worth it in these odd times and will not go unused when this is all over.

I am empathetic to the extroverts out there. I hope you are reaching out to your peeps and jumping on video conferencing calls to stay connected. This is an odd time for all of us and our friends and family are more important than ever. I hope these couple suggestions help out a bit and maybe allow you to maintain some semblance of normalcy at least in your work/school world. We'll be out of this soon enough and will have a whole new appreciation for an evening at the bar with friends. Stay safe, folks. And stay home!