The Best Ways to Structure Your Work from Home Schedule

Mar 31, 2020

If you're used to working in an office, adjusting to a work-from-home routine can feel overwhelming. And, when you're trying to maintain normalcy during a global pandemic, working from home—or working at all—may feel downright impossible. Structuring your work-from-home schedule in the time of COVID-19 has distinct challenges, but there are ways to transition into remote jobs more easily.

Schedule in Blocks

You can lose hours of your workday at home when you're unsure of how to begin. That's where "block scheduling" can help. Sabrina Garba, founder and CEO of Glass Ladder Group, recommends "focus blocks" to make your responsibilities more digestible: "[I] focus on specific tasks for an hour or two without interruption. After each 'focus block,' I give myself a 15-minute mental break." That can look like doing a quick at-home workout, or even texting friends before starting your next "block." Career coach Brittany Cole suggests creating visual reminders of these blocks: "I write down [my top three areas of focus] on a note near my laptop… then tackle that list before lunch." Cole advises prioritizing your "most challenging or time-consuming" tasks during the earlier part of the day—before answering emails, if possible—so you can spend the remaining energy on smaller to-do list items.

A work-from-home schedule becomes stressful when there aren't clear boundaries between personal life and business. Scheduling time blocks on a calendar can combat that problem. "My calendar is not open to all meetings all the time because I have different blocks set aside for [different] things," says management coach Kishshana Palmer. This set structure means your workday won't "meander on."