Home by Kate Watson-Smyth

Author:Kate Watson-Smyth [Watson-Smyth, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

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“[A] four day working week is being experimented with but it’s not actually about working four days a week but whether you can fit five days of productivity into a shorter period, or spread across seven mornings, for example. It’s about keeping the same levels of productivity under different conditions.”

DAN THOMAS, THE FINANCIAL TIMES’ CHIEF UK BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT

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YOU NEED A DEDICATED WORKSPACE

I strongly advise against the coffee table or even working from bed. The problem with the coffee table is that it is inevitably near the telly and it involves a comfy, loungey chair and, well, you can see how that’s going to go because…

YOU NEED TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A WORKSPACE

If you are working on the coffee table and having to shove the remote control to one side to make space for the computer, this isn’t going to put you in the right frame of mind. I spent 10 years working at the kitchen table, and while I know I can (and would rather) write than wash up the breakfast things, that really doesn’t work for everyone, so try to create a clear space where you can put the laptop, a notebook, a coaster for your water/coffee/tea and even a bunch of flowers or a plant, if that helps set the scene.

GET DRESSED!

In 20 years of working from home I have never not got dressed. It might not be a suit but it’s day clothes as opposed to evening loungewear. And I never, ever, wear slippers during the day. If you don’t wear shoes in the house, dedicate a pair of house shoes so you are feeling awake and dressed and ready to turn on your brain rather than slide into relax mode. By the same token I always change at the end of the day. Again, as I don’t have a physical commute between home and work, I have to make the change in mood in other ways, and for me that involves clothes.

STRUCTURE YOUR DAY

Writers often tend to write when the mood (or muse) strikes, which may well be at 4am or 11pm, and they are quite capable of missing meals and remaining completely in their bubble until the mood (or muse) moves on. For everyone else, a little structure is required. And just as many of us had to learn how to plan home schooling sessions for our children you should do the same around a working day. So, there is lunch, there is morning coffee and perhaps an afternoon tea break. If possible, instead of congregating round the water cooler, try to either take 10 minutes in the garden or stick your head out of the window from time to time if you don’t have any outside space.

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