One Small tweak to help your Productivity at Home

You are on the couch.  Your laptop is open.  You are staring.  You are clicking through your open tabs.  Calendar.  To-Do List.  Trello.  Facebook.  Gmail.  Zoom. Word.  Mom? Where’s the dog toothbrush? 

Wait--how did I get to the fridge?  Something cold and sweet actually sounds good.  Wait—I have an appointment soon.  Where is my phone?
 
Sound familiar?
 
If you have a living memory of how you used to rock your multi-tasking, working-from-anywhere world, it may still feel shocking to you, how hard it is to be productive at home right now.

• According to a friend who is also a productivity master, we have all been waking up every day emotionally taxed at 20%.  That’s a high rate.  It means that at best, we are operating at 80% of what used to be normal.
• Many of us are working from home with children also at home—and the tug that we always feel between working more and being more with the kids has morphed into a more or less constant knot of guilt and frustration.  Now we’re at a 30% emotional tax.
• Almost everyone is anxious about school starting.  Or not starting.  Or starting and then stopping. 

 
It’s a lot.
 
And yes, you all know that I have a whole bunch of free body-based emotional processing tools.
 
But today, I’ve got something a little different to share with you.
One small tweak to help your pandemic productivity problems.
 
It’s simple.
It’s elegant.
I’ve used it for years.
And I’ve re-vamped it for the ever emerging whack-a-normal!
 

Back in 2008, my office was in a kitchen that I shared with my colleagues.  Now, I’m an out-of-control extravert, so I was actually pretty happy. 
But not productive. 

I had heard about standing desks, and so, DYI that I am, I brought in a cardboard box, stuck my monitor on top, and got much joy from the sudden increase in my  energy!  My boss, being an angel, soon made sure that I had a more sturdy wooden tabletop standing desk, and now I have a decked-out, fully-automated standing desk that raises and lowers from standing to sitting.  

I love that desk.

It's in my office at the university.
Where I am not working very often.
You know—because of possible contagion.
 
At home, where I am protected from contagion but have no cool desk, I found myself getting sleepy instead of energized.
And grouchy with my daughter.
And distracted by the cat and dog and dishes.

​​So here is my one little tweak to help your productivity problems at home:
 
Create standing workspaces throughout your home.
 
This does not necessarily mean a full-out standing desk (though if you have the money and space—fantastic!)

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Consider these possibilities:

• The back of a wide couch is a perch to stay productive with low-focus tasks like scanning email, prioritizing tasks, and brainstorming new ideas while the kids are watching a movie.
• A super-small portable laptop desk that can move easily from a card table in the living room to the kitchen island as your family flows through your space.
• A rolling kitchen trolley becomes a zoom station.

 
Why is a standing workspace so important?
 
Well—it’s not because we need or want to stand all day while we work!  What we really need is to tune into our bodies and switch positions often.
 
That means standing sometimes, sitting in a chair or yoga ball sometimes, and sitting on the floor sometimes.  It is much easier to keep your oxygen flowing when you keep your body in flow, making minor adjustments in posture and balance. 
 
And bonus!  You can twist and untwist yourself into whatever shapes you want at home and still look professional—because you are getting stuff done.  And getting stuff done always looks professional!
 
I would LOVE to know how you are creatively tweaking your world right now.  Share your best productivity hack on Facebook!