Many of us have been thrust into unchartered work from home (WFH) territory with the Coronavirus pandemic. And while some are lucky to have separate rooms and home offices, many do not—trying to create makeshift offices in their bedrooms and dining rooms. As a Realtor, I’m used to working—well everywhere. From home, the car, coffee shops, I once negotiated a contract while out at dinner. My husband works at a SF-based tech company, and the WFH has been a big adjustment for him and our family. Here’s 6 tips you can learn from our family’s mistakes and wins.

1) TRY and separate work from home

Our first eight years in SF were crammed into a tiny flat, and we finally have a bit more space in our home, including a sunroom aka the office. So even though we have a dedicated space to work, it has been a difficult transition for my husband who manages a team at a SF-based tech company.

In addition, our young kids are out of school, so they want to go and sit on Dad’s lap for every Zoom meeting. Sometimes it’s okay when he’s talking with colleagues, but not when he’s talking with a CTO client, which is confusing for the kids. SOLUTION? He put up a colored sign similar to this from Amazon, that has a red side and a green side so that when it’s green, the kids can go in and say hello. In addition, to give him a further sense of separation, we ordered curtains to go over the windows so he feels a bit more disconnected to the rest of the home and toddler chaos.

Other ideas: if you’re working from your dining room table, make sure it is totally clean before you go to bed. You don’t want to come downstairs in the morning and find leftover pizza crust stuck on top of those TPS reports.

2) Get Dressed

Just because you’re working from home does not mean you should wear sweatpants every day. A study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science asked subjects to change into formal or casual clothing before cognitive tests. Wearing formal business attire increased abstract thinking—an important aspect of creativity and long-term strategizing. The experiments suggest the effect is related to feelings of power.

Now for tech workers, who notoriously dress casually this may not make sense, the point is, put something on that makes you feel good, shower, and dress as you would for work.

3) Create a new routine

Wake up as you normally would for work, and take advantage of the fact that you have no commute! Create a routine dedicated to you—it can be five minutes of intention and goal setting, or a morning run, online yoga session, etc. Then, come back, shower and get dressed for the day. Schedule times throughout your day for mini breaks away from your computer – ideally every hour. This could be a five to ten minute walk outside, a stretching break, or meditation app exercise.

4) Plan your lunches the night before

The first day my husband worked from home he didn’t eat lunch—even though we had a fridge full of food (yes, I went doomsday shopping). The next day he ate four pieces of toast. You get the picture. He is used to getting lunch delivered or he eats whatever is easy to grab at the office like fruit and nuts, or those single serve hummus packs. He is in back-to-back meetings all day and right now putting out fire-after-fire, so he doesn’t have time to make himself a proper lunch. We finally figured out that the only way he would eat a healthy meal is if he planned it the night before.

Roast a chicken on Sunday and shred up the meat for salads and place in grab-and-go container. Or, support your local restaurants and set up a reminder to place your order every morning. When in doubt—protein shakes. Throw the ingredients below in a blender – and you’ve got lunch in less than 5 minutes.

· A handful of berries

· Frozen banana – or fresh, but add in two big ice cubes with it

· Scoop of nut butter

· Small spoonful of coconut oil

· Milk of your choice

· Handful of greens

· Your favorite protein powder

· Chia seeds and/or hemp hearts

5) Don’t get sucked into household chores

This is from my own experience and it’s an important one. I tend to get distracted easily and if there’s a sink full of dirty dishes and I’m working from home, 9 times out of 10 I will do them, which somehow leads to re-organizing the pantry, and putting in a load of laundry…it’s a slippery slope. Schedule time in your day to allow yourself to do household work but don’t go beyond it.

6) Connect over Being Disconnected

If you’re stressed out about this big change in your work life, chances are some of your colleagues, clients, and friends are feeling the same way. Talk with them openly about the challenges you’re experiencing along with some solutions—it can provide an opportunity to connect with people at a different interpersonal level. Remember - we’re all in this together!