I’m stuck in quarantine and I’m not bored
I’m stuck in quarantine and I’m not bored. When you’re a consultant, you know how to work from home.
I created my routine years ago, gone are the days when I stayed in my pyjamas all day, ventured out once a day and looked at the clock wondering what time of day it is.
Consultants all over will agree with me, we are a highly productive bunch. We sit down to work in the routines we have designed for ourselves and we focus on client work and deliver on time all the time.
Routine
Routine is what sets anyone apart, and having the ability to focus and work on your own is where the cracks will start to show for the thousands of employees faced with working from home in this highly unusual time.
Employees will feel it hard
Gone are their commuting woes, gone are their commuting stories, gone are their coffee breaks and chit chat in the corridors. Gone are their meetings where they could have said what was required in a phone call or email. Being an employee is a highly social experience and when that stops suddenly, employees will probably find isolation the hardest to cope with.
Impact on health
Quarantine isn’t so bad. Ok, the huge downside is that I can’t go outside. It’s all very well following my favourite personal trainer on YouTube, and achieving half my usual step count, but the inability to step outside is the hardest part. Fatigue has increased, lethargy has kicked in and I find it very hard to fight the urge to have power naps in the late afternoon.
On the flip side, I’ve lost weight. Probably down to the fact my energy levels are low and I’m hardly ever hungry. Which I’m sure will have a knock on effect on other areas of my health. And at the same time my tolerance to enjoying a nice bottle of wine with dinner has diminished and I find myself feeling quite sloshed after one glass!
I’m stuck in quarantine but I’m not sick! Having behaved sensibly since the outbreak obeying social distancing, my partner and I are the picture of good health. At least we were on the way in.
Quarantine Vs Working from Home
Quarantine and working from home aren’t worlds apart, on one hand I use a time tracker to log how long I spend on projects. This is a great tool to help me keep track of what I worked on come billing day.
In my quarantine world, the government installed an app on my smartphone which tracks where I am. If I leave the zone I am guessing alarms will start ringing in a government office somewhere and someone might knock on the door!
Time is flying before my eyes in quarantine, but it’s been highly productive. Admin is done, banking is done, project work is done and I’ve managed to watch Ozark Season 3 on Netflix.
Resilience
Do yourself a favour and create a routine that is perfect for you. Everyone is different, so make yours unique to you. You’ll be surprised how efficient you become and you may find that you don’t want to go back to the office come the day we conquer coronavirus.
As Head of Marketing, Ellie handles the day-to-day execution and deployment of marketing and business development campaigns.
And as Project Manager, Ellie overseas clients projects keeping them on track and ensuring they are delivered within scope and on budget.
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