The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to work from home. And it looks like this new way of working is here to stay, even after the pandemic ends. Many companies experimented with the benefits of the remote job and people all around the world feel so comfortable working from home, that they refuse the idea of going back to their old offices again.
In my own experience, I worked from home for years as a bilingual virtual assistant before this boom that the pandemic started, so for me, it was not something new, but it was so incredible seeing how my friends and family started living the work-from-home experience for their own.
My older brother, for example, is a lawyer; and he used to work in his office all his working life, when I started working with my computer from everywhere he used to tell me that for him that was impossible. He didn’t imagine his life in a different way, yelling every morning at the traffic, coming from work to home feeling exhausted, and spending a lot of money on expensive clothes for meetings.
When the Covid19 pandemic started, and he was not allowed to go to the office, with a lot of resistance he started to work from home. After some weeks, his life changed in a way he couldn’t even imagine, he starts enjoying mornings (no traffic anymore), his levels of stress went down, and now he is having meetings in pajamas in front of his sofa. Moreover, he become more productive and enjoyed working again.
The most interesting thing about this is that he didn’t change his work, he continues doing the same legal tasks. He continues working with the same clients and with the same cases; What changed was his working environment and his work-life balance.
Working from home has a lot of benefits. Such as saving money on commuting costs and office clothes. You can also create a more flexible schedule that works around your other commitments. But the key benefit is the potential to change your working life for one more aligned with your lifestyle and desires. Although there are some challenges to working from home, too. For example, you might find it harder to stay focused and motivated, or you might miss the social interaction of working in an office. But with a little bit of effort, you can make working from homework for you.
Here are some tips from my older brother for making the most of working from home:
-Create a dedicated workspace: Having a dedicated workspace will help you to stay focused and motivated when you’re working from home. Make sure your workspace is comfortable and well-lit, and try to keep it separate from the rest of your living space so you can mentally ‘leave’ work at the end of the day.
-Set regular hours: One of the great things about working from home is that you can create your own schedule. But it’s important to be disciplined about setting regular hours, otherwise, you can easily find yourself working all hours of the day and night. Stick to set hours as much as possible and take regular breaks so you don’t get burned out.
-Take time for yourself: It’s important to take time for yourself when you’re working from home. Make sure you stick to your regular exercise routine, eat healthy meals, and take breaks throughout the day to avoid getting overwhelmed.
I hope this story encourages you to understand that working from home is for everyone, no matter what you do, you can shape it and transform it, and start offering it online, if you are facing any challenges follow the above tips. If you want to start your work-from-home career and don’t know how to; remember that in The VA Hub we are always hiring Latino virtual assistants.