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10 tips for working from home

Hi, fellow indie hackers.

I've been working remotely for 13 years, and even if I've typically done what I believe is healthy remote work, I've also spent a lot of time working from home.

Based on recent global events, a lot of people have been forced to work from home for the first time, so for all of you indie hackers that are on this situation, I've written down 10 tips which I think are helpful to survive the experience and prepare yourselves for whatever is coming at the other end of the COVID tunnel.

Hope you enjoy it.

1. The door🚪

If you live with people, put yourself one door away from them while you are working.

Defend that door with your life.

2. The schedule 📆

Set up a work schedule. Put an alarm for when it's time to stop. When the bell rings, stand up and stop working.

Allow no excuses, especially from you.

3. The walking pause 🚶

You don't need a fancy standing desk in order to use your legs.

Work in timed sessions, and every time one of them is over stand up and do 5-minute walks.

4. The online meeting 💻

Try to have work meetings only in your work setup, and any other call on an entirely different context.

While going outside, cooking, walking your dog, it doesn't matter. It needs to look like the call is happening in the background of your life.

5. The camera 📷

Please turn on your camera for meetings. It will force you to get dressed and will make the conversation feel less like talking to GPT-3 to the rest.

Act like a normal person while at a meeting. There's nothing wrong about walking around or having launch.

6. The bed 🛏

Don't ever work from bed.

Bed means leisure time and sleep, period.

7. The sleep 💤

You need to sleep, and you need to do it properly.

I know we are all feeling like it's the best time to change the course of humanity, but you won't be able to do it if you are going around acting like a walking dead.

8. The balance ♾

I know it's harder to tell your brain to stop working on this context, especially when you really like what you do. But you need to do other stuff.

Find a hobby. Set a daily alarm in order to make it a habit.

Eat as healthy as possible.

9. The habits 👨‍🦲

You are going to need to push harder for having healthy habits in a context where everything is so tangled.

Make yourself a favor and read Atomic Habits by James Clear if you haven't. Pay special attention to the chapter about making habits attractive.

10. The kids 👦👧

If you have kids, enjoy being around them. Their joy and optimism is something to get inspiration from.

Don't forget to be present for them, children need adults to be in the moment.

You have a little Eckhart Tolle with you for free. Have fun.

That's it. Hope you find it useful!

  1. 2

    Most of these are obvious but still so hard to nail consistently. Thanks for the info and reminder!

    1. 1

      Definitely, there's no rocket science in here, yet typically the most obvious things are the ones we never look at.

      "The essential is invisible to the eyes" a wise man once said.

      Thanks for commenting!

  2. 2

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