Surviving Rona Pt. 1: Working Remotely

I’ve been working remotely for quite some time.

I know you’re wondering why I have a photo of Winston Duke as the featured image 1.) it got you to come here and 2.) that’s how I used to lay in bed when I first started working from home.

Around 2014, I worked full-time and slowly began building my career as a freelance writer. It was difficult working overnight hours and then trying to stay awake in the afternoons to pitch articles to publications and crank out blogs. Little did I know, that time period was grooming me for what was to come.

June 26, 2020 marks five years since I made the difficult decision to end my budding career as a news producer and transition to becoming a digital journalist. It was a bold move, but I moved forward with divine wisdom and strength. Within four months, the site I was exclusively freelancing for shut down and four months later, I blew through my savings.

Through it all, I never experienced a hungry day (have you seen me? I am thiiick) nor experienced homelessness. God is faithful. He continues to reward my obedience.

If you’ve been a reader of Girl Tyler over the years, I am extremely transparent and sugar coat nothing. The first year of working remotely was a disaster. I lacked focus and structure. Truly, I have nothing to show for my first year of freelancing.

In late 2015, the gig economy was relatively new and there weren’t as many resources widely available to support remote workers, especially creative entrepreneurs. During that time, I was in my mid-20s with a flourishing social life and no clear direction as to what I was building. I just knew I needed freedom and flexibility. My friends were pursuing their second and third degrees, buying homes, and earning 6-figures while I tried to make my work make sense to everyone else.

Today, I work 70% remotely and travel during the other 30%. While I’ve been doing this for five years, it’s been challenging, frustrating, and rewarding all-in-one. I told y’all I pursued a career as a digital journalist. I still write for pubs and have expanded to working as an Associate Producer on short films and documentaries. Some times I act and I don’t know what God is trying to tell me there.

A recent photo of me “working” as the crew sets up:

In 2016, I met another freelancer and she passed along great advice, “Create a situation for yourself and make it work.”

And truly, that’s what working remotely is all about. You have to design a workflow that works for you and only you. Since that one lost year, I’ve become more focused and productive by developing a freelance lifestyle that works for my personality, learning style, and schedule.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has interrupted the lives of millions, professionally and personally. I want to extend my sincerest condolences if the virus has severely impacted you and your loved ones.

If you’re new to telework, here are a few practices that I’ve developed over the years and I hope you’ll find them useful in the weeks to come.

How you start is what matters

Working remotely is all about building good habits. The first 30 minutes of your day will dictate the next 7.5 hours. Waking up to check emails, scroll through social media, or respond to missed texts is a recipe for chaos. Within this short time frame, you’ve consumed thousands of words and images, without doing what really matters most: checking in with yourself. Are you centered? Do you have unresolved emotions from the previous day? What are your intentions for the day ahead of you?

We’re in a mass information age. What are you consuming? Who are you following? And why? There are countless studies that show constantly checking social media and sending emails causes anxiety and it has the same affect as drug use. We fiend for notifications.

I have deleted every social media app on my phone. Instagram is only on my phone for a few days at a time. If you’re like me and rely on social media to get work, it’s difficult to minimize use. I apologize to people who send me DMs all the time. I don’t stay on social media enough to chat.  I post and leave.

You have to learn how to separate the two: Am I on here for business or pleasure? You don’t have to share your every breaking thought or see the latest makeup tutorial or tune into every lie coming from the White House. I promise you the internet isn’t going anywhere. Mute those apps, and close all of them tabs. You said you were going to read that article three days ago and you haven’t…let it be sis.

(In extreme cases, there are apps that will help restrict you from spending copious amounts of time online.)

I do not touch my phone until I’ve taken several deep breaths, made a cup of coffee, read my Bible, talked to God, washed my face, and made my bed.

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.” –Navy Admiral Seal William H. McCrave

Remember what I said about transparency? Yeah……..

It took me three years to build good habits. I lost track of my mornings and felt burned out by 3:00 p.m. with little to no work completed however I couldn’t seem to pinpoint the source. I was literally waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Now that I have a better hold on my mornings, I am more successful for the rest of the day.

(I don’t suggest working from your bed, unless you’re in a studio or confined living situation. If you don’t have a designated home office, get a comfortable chair and use a folding table. The kitchen table is useful as well. Use your imagination and make your space work for you.)

Leave them chores alone

Working from home, you’ll notice that a mirror looks kind of dirty. Or you will think about how you need to rearrange your DVD collection knowing damn well you don’t even remember how to use a DVD player. And suddenly you’ll have an urge to do laundry when them clothes have been sitting there for 397 hours needed to be folded. You will lose valuable time and energy if you do chores while you’re working from home.

I am the queen of “I’ll do this now and get to work later.” Later never comes.

Yes, to be successful, you need a clean work environmen. I don’t suggest letting your home get in disarray, but you have to think of housework the same way you would as if you’re working in the office (or school). You don’t think about it at all. You can’t fold clothes while you’re on the company’s dime, so don’t do it while you’re working remotely. Set aside time to do chores, meal prep and go grocery shopping on weekends or in the evenings just like you would on a normal workday.*

(*I told y’all on Facebook, I can’t be much help if you have kids. I know they have to eat and need clean clothes.)

Here’s a video of my youngest nephew and I when I visted home one weekend 5 years ago and tried to get some work done in his presence. My mama had to intervene:

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Taking my birth control.

A post shared by Girl Tyler (@sheistyler) on Jan 18, 2015 at 5:09pm PST

We don’t talk enough about DND

Please stop being a slave to people. Everyone and everything doesn’t deserve your attention. My friends have full conversations in group chats and they know after the first 20 minutes, if I haven’t responded, it may be several hours or 3-5 business days before I look at the message. They know not to get offended because I am busy and it’s nothing personal. Unlike them, I don’t have a steady direct deposit to look forward to. It’s feast or famine over here.

Me to my friends when they call me while I’m busy working:

I know everyone doesn’t have a privilege of putting their phone on Do Not Disturb but you will increase your productivity tremendously.

You lose precious time catering to every alert that comes across your phone. I put my phone on DND while I sleep at night and during my “power hours.” The stretch of time when I have back-to-back deadlines with no time to stop. The only people who can reach me are my starred contacts. The people who I know will call me in the event of an emergency.

Also..Leave that man or woman on read…or don’t open the message at all. I’ll get into this at a later time, but if you’re dating someone new and you find yourself less productive than before you met….Let go and let God. (S)He ain’t the one. The right person will bring you closer to your goals not away from them. That includes friends and family.

Plan your day, make lists, set reminders

I despise lists but they work. Many people live by to-do lists. I use them as a way to do a braindump. I have a lot of information to retain. Instead of trying to do everything, I write them down in a notebook and refer to the list whenever I feel like I forgot to do something. I read a book that suggests writing down a list before you go to bed of all the things you need to accomplish the next day, that way your mind and body can truly rest while you’re asleep and not agonize over what’s to come.

Schedules work for me. I do allocate time for how long it should take me to accomplish tasks. I schedule my lunch break at the start of the day. On Sundays, I plot out the entire week.

I use my Google calendar to send invites, set goals, and reminders. Research and ask around about apps that will work for you.

Walk away

It’s unhealthy to sit in the same spot for extended peridos of time. Get up and stretch. Go outside. Get some fresh air. Trust me, your work will be there when you get back.  It’s impossible to be everything to everybody. Know your limits and do what you can.

Working remotely often causes miscommunication. The tone of an email from a colleague can come off harsh and trigger you to respond in a negative manner. Take a second to breathe and truly determine whether or not the message was underhanded or if you’re reading too much into it. When in doubt, pick up the phone and check people.

Prioritize Self-Care

I saved the best for last. Please eat and take any necessary vitamins You get a lunch break at work, schedule one at home. (I use my lunch break to eat, catch up on social media, and watch TV) Don’t take a 5-hour lunch break. Be productive.

Don’t work in your pajamas. You’ve feel better and invigorated to get started on your work when you get dressed for your day. I shower in the mornings, put on workout clothes, work for 9 hours, then I end the day at the gym. I’ve paused my gym membership because of the quarantine, now I’ve moved my workouts outdoors.

My friends send me “Are you alive?” text messages a lot because I tend to get so immersed in my work that I forget to reach out to the outside world. Twitter is the most human interactions I get some days…and that is not a good thing.

Above all, the greatest takeaway for you is to find balance while working remotely. You’re no good to anyone else until you’re good to yourself.

One thing I do recommend is having someone in your corner that will help you remain accountable while you work at home. There are millions of distractions both online and in-person and it’s easy to fall into a trap.

Three books I highly recommend to help increase productivity and implement effective goal setting:

• Master Your Time, Master Your Life by Brian Tracy
• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Produced by Faith by DeVon Franklin (highly recommended for my spiritual friends in entertainment)

This pandemic will truly expose your discipline (or lack thereof) and poor work habits. Luckily, you have time to pinpoint them and make adjustments. Keep your eyes on the prize and remember why you do the work that you do. I have had many days where I simply just don’t feel like it. I’m sure you’re feeling that way too especially now that your routine has been disrupted and you’re technically on house arrest.

Give yourself some grace. Take this time to reflect on everything that’s happening around you and how you plan to move differently once the dust settles. In the meantime, enjoy your new normal.

I wish I could share more tips on working remotely, but gotta get back to work! I hope this helps. (As usual, I haven’t edited this….God bless you for getting this far.)

P.S.

I work with entreprenuers and coach creatives to develop business plans, effective social media strategies, and a roadmap to find flexibility as a freelancer or blogger. If you’re serious about your creative venture and would like to schedule a consultation with me, let’s chat! I’d be happy to support you. tyler@girltyler.com