[Closed] Working from home and trying your hardest to stay awake

Standup desk and pomodoro technique.

And headspace style noting to bring myself back in the room when I notice I've drifted.

Pomodoro timer app on my computer is literally the only way I ever get focussed productive work done.

+1 to standing desk. A fan also maybe? Loud aggressive music? Slap yourself in the face?

Have a nap. Do the work later when you are feeling more alert. No need to do a 9 to 5 when you work from home

pomodoro technique

Is that like a really specific way to eat tomatoes?

🤔

Never seen the pomodoro tenchnique before - will be trying that myself. Just need to increase my focus time by 23mins and I'm onto a winner!

@grum which particular app are you using? Highly unlikely I'll be able to get it on my machine, but worth a go

Cut out the porn and masturbation. I'm always sleepy afterwards.

If I'm distracted, I go for Arun. If I'm tired, I have a nap.

If I'm out in the field, I can and do go all (long) day, often without food or water as I'm just so lost in what I'm doing.

Some people just aren't cut out for office work and even less so for home office work.

The wife is the complete opposite. Put herself through a distance learning course that saw her locked in the study for evenings and weekend for a couple of years. The amount of times she didn't come out riding with friends would have driven me loopy.

I might use that timer to try and limit my time spent on here!

My Mrs has a terrifying ability to focus. She is like a machine. That is why she has four degrees and earns twice as much as me. She simply cannot understand people who don't just get on with it.

I truly excel at procrastinating, properly world class. I generally only get something done when I am under pressure to hit a deadline. Its a terrible way to work. I'm due to start a distance learning degree in a couple of weeks, its going to be a mess.

Activity. I was looking at my phone the other day and saw that a typical day in the office before COVID I was clocking up an average of 20k steps a day. This included walking up three flights of stairs several times a day instead of taking the lift, going to the gym most lunchtimes and ferrying myself between different conference rooms in different buildings to sit in a meeting talking about work rather than doing it.

Now if I don't make a concerted effort to get away from my desk through the day I'll struggle to clock up 2k steps, and even if the dog gets an extra walk or two, or I get out to the pool or out on the bike I'm nowhere near the 20k steps. I find this affects me during the day and can feel drowsy during the day.

I've got a stand up desk and that does help, but I think if you can't improve your sleep then you've got to get yourself into a routine of regularly getting away from the desk and outside. Even if you just walk to the end of the drive and back.

@mashr I use one called vitamin-r3 or something on a Mac. I paid a little for it but there are free ones also.

My one lets you track productivity and different projects and makes graphs and whatnot to show your most productive time.

I am also a terrible procrastinator but it really works for me.

Thanks Grum, will have a look. Just found a simple free one to start with, and even that seems a go way to do things.

Unfortunately my day tends to have a load of meetings in it too. Will need to read up a bit about how to make that work

Work is boring. And with no-one around you to help you focus on it and make it more interesting, it gets really hard.

Tips? I have none. Just make sure you work enough time to get your stuff done then **** off out and about and do something else.

 rubbing my eyes like a Panda

Had an eye test recently?  just a small change in your ability to focus on things at screen distance could have a big effect on how tired you, or your eyes, feel.

Edit - i have two pairs of glasses now, one for reading, one for screen work

I take naps on the sofa if I'm flagging. Set a timer for 15 mins, lie down and get up as soon as the timer goes off. Then make a cup of tea and back to it. I find they really work and I come back feeling refreshed and much more awake even though I probably didn't really sleep at all.

You just need to get some adrenaline flowing. Get a proper job with deadlines and pressure and stuff 😉

How do I apply for a job in this place? sounds great, log in and go to sleep, I'll take a pay cut.

The trick might be moving the work you’re doing at home to your workplace. I know you’re a relative new convert to self employment. I’ve almost always been self employed and generally work as well at home as anywhere and almost have the opposite problem and can’t switch off from work at home. It can happen that I get up, start doing bits of work,,,, and it can be 11pm and I’m still in my PJs and haven’t eaten  ….. even if there’s not really any work needing done.

But sometimes - certain kinds of work I can do better if I just get out of the house. Sometimes if I’ve got a lot of correspondence to do I just drive to a cafe and work there for a couple of  hours - it seems to make me more decisive. My GF also works from home and to focus in on certain creative pitches she’ll take her laptop up to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and work there all day.

So maybe sometimes to do the work you need to ‘go to work’

Had an eye test recently

For a while I was struggling to stay focused when working at home (same mix as the OP of working at a bench or on site or doing the design / pitching / admin at home)

turned out what I needed was an eye test and some reading glasses - I could see what I was doing on the screen but my focus (and therefore my attention) was happier being across the room or out of the window. Glasses moved my focus (literally and figuratively) back to the work.

it has actually become  a good clock in / clock out thing too as otherwise you’ve not got much separation between home being a place to work and be a place to rest. Glasses on: working, glasses off : taking a break. A bit like Clark Kent.

Spending too long trying to do a task? Most folk can only focus for 15-30minutes anything else is wasted.
In the office there will be a lot of dicking about (see post about 20k steps) you need to break up the tasks with breaks/rewards.
As a teacher the online lessons were awful. I found what I was doing in an hour online was equivalent to about 6hrs in class because in class we break it up so much purely because of ability to focus.

How do I apply for a job in this place? sounds great, log in and go to sleep, I’ll take a pay cut.

Easy. Go self-employed.

sometimes – certain kinds of work I can do better if I just get out of the house. Sometimes if I’ve got a lot of correspondence to do I just drive to a cafe and work there for a couple of hours

Good shout. I sometimes take the laptop to the workshop but then I don't have a printer and shit and sometimes the incessant RAT-ATT-ATT of my workshop shareists weedy 10.8v impact driver is a bit distracting 😂

It's fine this time of year but it's an unheated workshop and in the winter it's been literally colder in there than the fridge. Still, the shivering keeps you awake for a while...

Thanks folks.
Some good things to look at there.
I like the idea of the tomato timer. Might try that.

I did get given glasses for reading, but I never seem to get around to using them and I'm not sure they help on the laptop which tends to be a little further away than a phone or book.

Does nobody use daylight lamps to help, or is it snake oil?

Get a comfy work chair that reclines, when you get tired put your feet up and have a power nap. I've done it a few times and it worked wonders.

Also +1 on eye test and exercise.

Get a comfy work chair that reclines, when you get tired put your feet up and have a power nap.

I'd be out for hours! 🤣

Exercise can help - can you go for a run / ride before work?

I was really struggling to focus when working from home. Hated it. I now go into the office every day even though I really don't need to. I cycle commute - it gets me the exercise that allows me to get to work feeling alive, and stay focused all day.

In the office it's the same people most days - probably only 10% of the numbers pre-Covid, I think it is this 10% who are struggling to focus at home - the other 90% are either happy with home working or happy with home not working......