Wayne recently shared a couple of tips for managers who want to make sure they are still effectively leading their teams in a new remote work world. His advice was great and full of things he already does for us here at Bowe Digital.

However, the rest of our team (Alyssa, Ashley, Brad, Casey, Chelsea Dorinda, Heather and Richard) wanted to make sure we shared some of the tricks we used to help us adjust to a work-from-home environment too. Whether this is a list you need in your life right now or you think it should be passed on to a friend or colleague, we're just glad to be in a position to help make the transition a bit easier for everyone involved!

The 11 WFH tips for you from our personal experience are:

• Create or stick to a morning routine to do before the workday starts to help maintain structure. 
• Don’t feel badly about taking short rests between tasks to decompress or focus on other things at home. Set a timer if you need a tangible reminder to take a break.  
• Use at least one of those breaks to get out of the house too. A properly social distanced walk around the block may do wonders to clear your head. 
• Experiment with what kind of setup works best for you. Some members of our team have a designated work area to help them stay focused and to better divide work tasks from the rest of the day, but others have found that changing “scenery” every few hours keeps them more engaged.   
• Carve out specific work time. We all get interrupted with calls and emails all day. Dedicate chunks of time to complete the things you must accomplish that day so you can leave feeling a sense of accomplishment for at least one task.
• On a related note, remember to devote some of the workday to "passive" work, such as checking non-ASAP emails, reading articles, making to-do lists, etc.
• Schedule play/walk time for your pets as well. It helps so they don’t interrupt you when you have a conference call or video meeting. (This can apply to little humans too.)
• Do some exercises at your desk or get up and walk around the house (and not always to the refrigerator). Remember, you weren’t always in your chair in the office, and you don’t need to be so now.
• Drink plenty of water and if the weather is nice outside, open the windows for some fresh air. 
• Take your lunch break and resist the temptation of working during it. Step away from your computer and enjoy the down time. Keep a hard stop for the end of the workday too. 
• Remember to have patience. Everyone including your boss, your colleagues, your spouse and your children are adapting to a new environment.

If you have other WFH tips our team should know about or share, send them Wayne's way at wayne@bowedigital.com!