How To Work From Home

I have an idea in my head of what my days should look like. The trouble is that I’m easily influenced by external expectations, so for a very long time my imagined ideal schedule was at odds with reality. This caused me a lot of grief as I fought against my natural tendencies, namely:

1. I hate to wake up early
2. I love to go to bed late
3. I don’t do well with time boxing

I don’t need to set specific constraints on myself (tech jobs are still fun and good despite also being bullshit), so my preferred schedule is a bit loose. I came back from an Italian vacation and decided to bring the vibes back with me. I felt much saner there.

Morning

A WFH morning is all about combining business and leisure, at least in theory. This schedule is somewhat vague and unambitious.

• wake up naturally sometime between 8:00 and 9:00
• alarm rings at 9:00, which I can snooze once or twice
• brush my teeth, wash my face, wake up a bit
• eat a small breakfast (tea, a PB&J sandwich, a pastry)

Ideally I get to work sometime before 10:00, but it’s okay if not.

• set the work vibe
  • set a light: a candle, or a desk light
  • get comfy: put on socks, apply hand cream, etc.
  • set the tone: put in ear plugs, or turn on work music

I work until lunch, with a few breaks in the middle when I naturally finish chunks of work. No pomodoro or anything like that.

Lunch

I eat lunch late, between 1:00pm and 2:00, or even later. An ideal lunch is an hour to an hour and a half long. One version is to cook a hot lunch, even get groceries if needed. Another possibility is to order lunch, and take a nap, or read a book. Another possibility is to run some errands, or do some chores to mix it up, or maybe pick up lunch while going out for a little walk.

• have lunch at 1:00pm-2:00pm ish
• take an hour to an hour and a half for this
• save a bit of time to relax before going back to work

Afternoon

There’s still more work to do! After lunch is a nice time to switch gears to whatever I didn’t do in the morning.

• at 4:00pm take a break and have a snack
• finish work ~9 hours after starting, somewhere in the 6:00-7:00 range

That’s the work day over.

Evening

With no commute to worry about, the evening is free!

• right after work is a good time to exercise (yoga, or some kettlebells, or to go for a run, or to the gym)
• dinner is whenever ends up being viable, sometime in the 7:00-9:00 is totally fine
• after dinner is a great time to watch some TV, or do something else mindless
• a free evening is well spent on some chores, or something productive, but going out is always on the table
• by 11:00 it’s time to start thinking about bed, but being tired in the more important signal
• being asleep-ish by midnight tends to work well

That’s the whole day!

Appendix A: A Short Break

What’s nicer than a little break? 10-15 mins to chill goes a long way.

• eat a snack (yogurt, nuts, granola bar)
• read something light for ~15min (magazine?)
• have a stretch, or foam roll
• meditate a bit
• do a crossword or another kind of puzzle