Haven’t Worked From Home Before? This Viral Twitter Thread Would Help You Get Started

As coronavirus spreads throughout the world and has now over 4000 confirmed cases in the United States alone (at the time this article was written), a lot of firms are urging the employees to try and work from their homes to arrest the spread of this deadly virus. While it may be a normal thing for some people to work from home, there is a sizeable population that isn’t exactly ready to make this transition. To figure out how to work from home, you can take help from this viral Twitter thread that offers tips on how this transition can be a seamless one.

So what are the tips?

So, on Sunday, famous planetary scientist Emily Lakdawalla urged experienced remote workers to share their experiences and useful tips on how to work effectively from home while avoiding all possible distractions. And people delivered.

Friends, there are going to be a lot of people newly working from home starting this week, and it will be a difficult transition for some. *IF AND ONLY IF you are experienced at working from home*, please reply with tips for working effectively & avoiding distractions!

— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) March 8, 2020

Block the noise

Astroparticle physicist and Cosmologist Sophia Gad-Nasr suggested that to work effectively she often leaves her phone in one of the other rooms and lets it be in the silent mode for hours. Also, filling the room with plenty of light and not working from the bed, apart from pretending that TV doesn’t exist, were some of the other useful suggestions she shared.

She also urged people to use their earplugs or headphones to focus better while working.

I work from home most of the time anyway. My advice:

• stay away from the TV
• if your bed triggers nap mode, work in the living room. If not possible, fill room with LIGHT (natural, or desk lamp)
• keep your phone on another desk and put on silent for the hours you plan to work

— Sophia Gad-Nasr (@Astropartigirl) March 8, 2020

Stick to your work hours

On the other hand, geophysicist and science communicator Mika McKinnon suggested that people should set their work hours and always stick to them, else it would just end up taking away all their time while they procrastinate with chores and errands. Very useful suggestion, in my opinion!

Set & stick to work hours. You can split hours morning/night with afternoon “off” or timeshift, but still have set hours or you’ll constantly get derailed.

It’s easy to get distracted by flexibility to take a social call, duck out for an errand, or procrastinate with chores.

— Mika McKinnon (@mikamckinnon) March 8, 2020