Our new daily mini series, Where I Work, is taking a look at people’s home offices, as the coronavirus lockdown makes working from home the norm.
We’ve checked out a jewellery designer’s shed workshop, seen how a mum made her daughter a mini desk so she could feel included, and met a barefoot athlete who has no chairs in his home.
Today we’re in West London with Corah Norton, 25.
Corah is a graphic designer and illustrator originally from Hertford. She now lives in West London in a one-bedroom flat with her boyfriend, Ben, and works in the same space.
Do you always work from home or has coronavirus changed things?
I always work from home, my graphic design job is 100% fully remote.
My boyfriend was office-based but is now buddying up with me to work from home since the coronavirus outbreak.
Talk us through your workspace
My work area is based in the bay window of our living room, flooded with light and a nice view of a tree out on the street.
I work on a fold-out desk that I fold out every Sunday evening in preparation for the week, then when I finish on Friday I’ll fold it back down to create that mental break from work. My chair is also an upcycled foldout chair so it can all be quickly folded down when its time for the weekend!
I work on a Mac and will set it up in the fold-out desk either on its own or with a second screen for when I’m video editing or working on a big project. I tend to do my illustration on my tablet so that’s usually on there somewhere too.
I generally try to keep my desk as minimal as possible – a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind!
I also keep my vintage trunk next to me, which I upcycled it myself and now is what I keep all my craft supplies, photography gear, and art tools in.
I’m a bit of a mad plant mum, so there are plants all over our flat and setting up my desk space was just another excuse to put more plants everywhere. I’ve got hanging ones and big pot plants surrounding me which create my own little work oasis! Its been scientifically proven that natural light and plants have an amazing effect on productivity and happiness whilst working, so I really take this advice to heart.
I also have the obligatory candles, personalised mousemat and ceramic coaster for all those hot drinks I have throughout the day.
What are your personal rules for working from home? How do you stay focused?
Always stick to a routine (as much as possible!).
It’s also really important to take breaks and not let yourself be absorbed into your laptop, get up every hour or so and stretch those legs, pop the kettle on every now and again, look out the window, do anything that stops your eyes being too strained from staring at the screen all day.
I’d also suggest avoiding the TV, If you hate working in silence like me try having a radio station on in the background, I find that its a great way to stop yourself feeling isolated in the day.
Lastly, close that laptop at the end of your working day! I’ve accidentally ended up working nearly the whole evening many times, I never feel very good for it the next day.
What’s a working day like for you?
I get up between 7:30 and 8am every day and the first thing I always do is some stretching or quick exercise routine. It’s good to get your body moving to wake you up in the morning!
I then make myself a big cup of coffee and set up my desk for the day and arrange what work needs doing.
I contact the team that I work with through Skype throughout the day, so I’m usually getting to chat to people as the day goes on, which is great as you don’t feel as isolated.
I usually take a lunch break at around 12:30pm and stick to a full hour. I’ll go for a walk if I can and get outside to refresh my creativity but if it’s raining I’ll get out the exercise mat and get moving. It’s good to get an hour of no screen time in.
It’s then back at my desk after lunch to the end of the day (with many cups of tea in-between).
I tend to shut down my computer at around 5:30pm and then tidy up my desk so it’s ready for the next day. Then the whole evening is mine!
I would usually then get out and meet some friends after work (not when social distancing though) or get some art and craft bits out. It’s a great feeling to have so much more of your time to yourself.
Before all this coronavirus mess I would be asked a lot of questions by people who find out I work from home, they could never get their head around it really.
The assumption of remote working is usually that you’re an anti-social hermit, but that’s not the case!
There are so many great perks to remote working, I think a lot of workers would be a lot healthier and happier if they had the more option to do it. After this mass change in people’s work environments I wonder if companies will have no choice but to have to be more flexible with employees and remote working.
What’s it been like working from home? Have you come up against any challenges?
I personally LOVE working from home, it has improved my mental health and outlook on day-to-day life. I was really struggling with work-based anxiety last year so it was a change that I was eager to make and I was lucky to find work that allows me to be fully remote.
It’s great to have your time as your own and the days seem so much longer when you cut out long commutes.
I’m lucky that I’m happy in my own company, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on the social aspect of being based in an office.
Working from home means I can have a really good work/life balance, but the real challenge with remote working though is self-discipline.
There are a variety of distractions at home and you really have to completely ignore them to make working at home function well.
I tend to write a work to-do list as soon as I sit at my desk in the morning to avoid procrastination.
What advice do you have for people new to working from home?
If you’re working from home temporarily or even taking the jump into full-time remote work you’ll notice that you just take life a bit more slowly.
Stay focused, don’t burn yourself out and take up some hobbies that get you away from the screen, that way when you’re finished for the day you can hop onto another activity.
I’d also suggest that you get actually get dressed, even though it’s always tempting to stay in your pjs! Once you have a shower and put on some clothes you automatically feel more productive.
It’s also important to not feel to disheartened if you have an off day, especially in this weird lockdown time.
Do you have a snazzy home-working space you fancy sharing in Where I Work? Get in touch by emailing Ellen.Scott@Metro.co.uk.
MORE: Where I Work: Jaclyn, a freelance writer working on a houseboat
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/07/work-corah-graphic-designer-illustrator-working-home-12520354/?ITO=squid
0 Comments