Tips for Work/Study at Home
We are experiencing a historical event, COVID-19. It’s scary, but life goes on. While all the news out there stresses us out, we still need to do our jobs or study while at home. I have some tips to calm the mind and concentrate:
- Put away your phone
When you have your phone by your desk, it’s very easy to get distracted by picking up your phone and checking your social media platforms, watching news, or talking/texting people. My tip is to put your phone in a different room other than where you are working/studying. So when you get bored and want to distract yourself, you have to get up and walk to another room to check your phone. Instead of having it sit by your desk making it easy to check and lose track of time.
2. Prepare your lunch for the week
While you are at home, I recommend preparing your lunch for the week during weekends or at night. It can make sure you have fuel to burn to support the brain and mood without spending too much time and energy in the kitchen. One day I spent almost 2 hours in the kitchen to cook lunch. And I accidentally light some pasta on fire. The lunch turn out great but all the putting out the fire and cleaning up the mess really took the energy out of me. I did not have much energy in the afternoon to work. Although this is an extreme case, you can see how convenient and easy it could be for me if I had something ready to go. Instead of putting myself through the mess.
And having a light lunch without too much carbs will help stabilize your blood sugar. In case you get sleepy and tired in the afternoon.
3. Workout at home
If you are like me, you sit in front of a desk all day. When you have free time, you should try to workout in a way that you like. It does not have to be long, 20–30 min would do. Or even just stand up and stretch from time to time. The purpose of it is too help us to get out of the sitting position and get your blood circulation going. It helps to clear you mind too. If you are stuck on a problem or your mind is busy and anxious, get out of the chair and move around. Focusing on the body can give your mind a break and make you more productive.
I try to do some yoga every other day just following YouTube Video. This is a YouTuber I like a lot:
She has different length of videos ranging from 10–60 mins. She even has a few videos under 10 mins to practice if you just want do a little stretching and are crunched for time. Yoga is great if you have low back pain. Back pain is quite common for people spend lots of time sitting.
4. Have a break from the news and do some meditation
If you are so stressed about everything going on in the world and you cannot focus. It is probably a good time to stop checking news or social media for a while. And be mindfulness of the moment. Meditation can do that for you. It is a great way to relax your mind and reduce stress, plus there are all kinds of other benefits. Look it up and try following a video. You might be surprised how much it can calm you down.
I am a light sleeper. Especially if I did some coding right before bed. Recently, I try to do 10–15 min meditation before sleep. I just lie in bed with all the lights-off, play an audio program, and go to bed. I use an App called “HeadSpace”:
The voice that guides you is so gentle and calming, sometimes I fall asleep before I finish a session. It also has cool sessions for different themes like: “Performance mindset”, “Personal growth”, “Work & productivity”, “Physical health”, etc. It even has a set of exercise just for students.
5. Have a pet
Having a pet can be emotionally rewarding so I highly recommend getting one, especially if you live by yourself. I know it’s hard to get a pet during this time, but I hope a cute nice picture of my cat Kira can put a smile on your face:
