working from home during stressful times

Unplanned/Unscheduled working from home can be stressful for everyone involved.

Team Members have a hard time concentrating, hard time finding balance and are working in an environment they are not used to.

Managers are managing in a way they probably never had to before and to add more to this we are in an uncertain time.

Do not let these uncertain times cause you to be fear driven and make rash decisions.  The best advice I ever received was “save to draft” in other words before sending an email or making that phone call make sure that what you are saying is not emotional driven.

Nothing is exactly simple during tough times but hope this helps those that are a little stuck working from home.

For Team Members

Set a routine from day one

• Keep your home morning routine the same, do your morning routine the same as you do now, including getting dressed as if you are going to work

• Set proper start and end times.  When working from home it is easy to work over the normal time you would in the office.  There is always work to be done.

• Take a lunch break like you normally would

• During lunch break take time to Facetime with friends or family that are also at home, do a meditation or go for a walk

Set up a place in your home for working to help you feel a little more normal

Try to not let distraction interfere with your work just like if you were at the office

• House cleaning

• Pets

• Kids (I know with school closures this maybe a bit more difficult)

Have patience

• Have patience with yourself, no need to get frustrated. It is just a slight change in scenery

• Have patience with your owners/managers, this is a stressful / uncertain time for everyone

• Have patience with your clients, customers, whomever you are working with

At the end of your day

• Try to clear away your work stuff so it is not in your face during none work hours

• Get outside before the sun goes down and breathe in the fresh air (even if it is cold)

• Do something physical, you been sitting inside all day during this stressful time.

For Managers

First remember that everything above goes for you too.

Have patience

Be understanding

Be the example

Have conference calls or Zoom calls, it will be essential to stay connected

Trust and faith will be everything for your team

• These are people you have had trust in previously continue to have this trust. 

• Your trust or lack of trust will be felt by your team members

• Be as open and honest as you can be

At the end of the day STOP working

For Everyone

If you do not have a meditation routine start one even as little as 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night.

Be physically active

Get outside even just for a few minutes to get fresh air and see the sun

Stay connected to people outside your home. Speak to people on the phone, via Facetime, ect

Remember to breathe

Be there for one another and support one another vs taking each other down. Remember to come from a place of compassion & understanding.

Not So Secret Sauce To A Road Warriors life

Spending most of the last decade on the road 100% of the time I found myself quite burnt out.  Looking back now I know the cause of my burn out was because I had become a workaholic, with all seriousness, I was addicted to avoiding anything but work.  It was when I “woke-up” one day and realized I did not want to spend another 10 years like this and sadly I was way past the point of burn out to fix it without taking a break to reset.

So, here are a few lessons I learned too late:

Set Boundaries Ahead of Time

FIRST do you need to physically take this trip. So much can be done through video conferencing.  Remember it is not just your time but also those you are coming to see. For you it maybe 3 days out of pocket for a 4-hour long meeting.

Set dinner plans for a reasonable time, if you took a 5:45 AM EST flight do not make dinner plans for 8:30 PM PST

Book your flight for an appropriate time for all parties, understanding budgets matter, but understand your time and energy cost money too, do not always sacrifice your time and “just power through”

Set the time when your day will end.  Completely end, no more emails, time to start your evening routine with no work involved.

Nutrition

Planning your meals

Thinking of your food ahead of time assists with making good decisions and not leave you reaching for anything from anywhere when you get hungry

Pick a hotel with a restaurant or with restaurants within walking distant

If you check a bag or drive an immersion blender is small and easy to pack

With Shipt, InstaCart and Amazon Fresh (in select areas) you can now get your food delivered right to your hotel room.

Salad fixings are great options and easy to prepare in the room for lunches

Some hotels may even have kitchenettes or even grills outside to cook food on

Smoothies fixings if you have your immersion blender.  Also, if you stay at the same hotel every week or so they may hold a blender for you.

You CAN fly with solid foods.  This is often is a misunderstanding, but solid food is okay to fly with.  I often would make protein balls ahead of time to bring with me. These were a life saver when the plane got delayed when I was trying to avoid the food (and alcohol) at the airport

Avoid Alcohol on the road.  Alcohol has a ton of sugar that can affect your sleep that is already difficult on the road…. And so many other reasons to avoid but let’s stick to making sure you sleep well on the road

Fitness/Wellness:

Set a routine right away, your well-being is the first thing pushed away when time does not permit

There is so many resources now that can assist with your physical activity

Hotels are getting much more advance with their fitness center,

I worked in the hotel I was staying in, so I preferred not to work out next to the guy I just checked in

Hilton Full-Service Brands are starting to recognize this importance and designing rooms called 5 feet to fitness, keep an eye out for these

MindBody App was my personal favorite it has all ranges of fitness centers and you can search by time, location and style

Classpass has exploded onto the market and you can pay one fee and get nationwide classes, understand your points maybe very different per city you’re in.  There is even a corporate package that may entice your Human Resource Department to purchase for the whole company

Jade Travel Mat is super small and can be folded up and fits in your front pocket of your suite case and can easily rolled out in your room no matter the size.  Great apps for this is Glo or even YouTube (checkout Yoga 4 Change channel, for a great cause, classes and meditations)

Meditation!

You will do physical exercise for your body, try to eat healthy foods and clean your body but if you do not cleanse your brain burnout will still happen. There are lots of apps for this too my current favorite is Sound True right now. 

A Routine that May Work

When reflecting back I did have wonderful weeks on the road when burnout was not 100% present and I felt I had control of my schedule.  Here is an example of one of those great weeks

Since my flight was slightly delayed and I would not have time to stop at store I had my groceries delivered to the hotel through Shipt

Took the time on the night I arrived to prepare my salads for next few days lunches

              Found a 6 AM power yoga class 5 mins from hotel, no excuses

              Making a smoothie in my room with my immersion blender

              Headed downstairs no later than 8 AM (remember I worked in the hotel I stayed)

I checked in with the team and made it very clear with the team when my day would end, they held me accountable for ending my day. 

For dinner I would try to head out of the hotel.  I was lucky enough that one of my close friends lived in Buffalo now, so I was able to make plans with her one of the days I was there. Finding a new local spot and possibly even finding a local attraction to checkout

I ended each night with a wonderful conversation with someone not work related (keeping those personal connections), meditation, a warm glass of tea and my favorite book or TV show

Tale of a Road Warrior

On July 19th, 2019 I walked out of one of my favorite hotels in Buffalo, NY knowing that was my last moment working for a company I spent my entire early adulthood with and grew my entire professional career through.   I loved my company and loved the hospitality industry, but as many road warriors I was burnt out.  

Beginning in early 2012 I hit the road running.  I had become a road warrior.  I spent nearly 100% of the time spending much of my time focused on the hotels I oversaw.  I often had no boundaries, starting my day at 7 AM, this being if I had already flown in if not it would generally start at 4 AM, and not retiring back to my room with whatever delivery food I got until after 8 PM where I would spend another 2 hours answering emails. 

I left no time for myself. I was eating terribly and was barely leaving room in my life for friends and family (which they all got very use to me not being around).

This was not without trying to change things, without trying to approach work differently, without trying to approach my lifestyle differently, but I was not taking the time to find the tools and when I would look nothing would really land really land or stick.  I was a true workaholic that was ready to change.

The only option I could land on was it was just time to hit the stop button.