If you’re like me and starting to have regular online meetings, you may find yourself doing far too many, in too little time. I’ve heard some are spending hours every day in online meetings.
Was that the norm for you? Regular daily meetings? Remember you are in control of your diary. Set a routine and try to pace yourself. I’ve decided no more than one meeting a day but for others that might not be realistic. Perhaps one in the morning and one in the afternoon – if they’re not long meetings.
Whatever you do – don’t do back-to-back meetings. Make sure you have breaks in between for meals, for exercise or walking, to get away from the screen so that your eyes can adjust to other things. Get some washing done, go for a walk in the garden or around the block – anything away from your computer or phone screen so your eyes can have a break, and you too.
Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.
While the media has made it seem like the entire world is on the brink of complete disaster, that’s not the reality with all businesses. Most businesses that were already working online, like us, can pretty much continue on as we always have done. This puts us in a fairly strong position. We haven’t had to uproot from business premises somewhere else to set up at home. Working at home isn’t strange to us – it’s a normal activity. And we’re already used to working remotely, and productively, even if there are family members at home.
All VAs should be marketing online but if you’re not, time to start. So, look into what you are doing and where. Most of you will have clients that won’t go out of business – some may close their office for a while, or cut down their hours, but most will remain in business and you can help them with this. Perhaps show them how to do more online, how to be more reachable, and how to use online tools such as Zoom, Asana, Trello, Slack, Dropbox, Skype and so on. Now’s a time for you to reach out and offer help to your existing client base and to others too.
I’d like you to consider that a Virtual Assistant can be long-term use, not just short-term. Why engage lots of different VAs when you can keep one or two (or more if needed) as permanent support?
Talk of the coronavirus is rife at the time of writing this post. We’re about 10 weeks or so into when the virus began to break out into the world. No-one knew what it might mean in their countries and at home, and we’re, as yet, to learn how long this might go on for.
Get dressed – don’t live in your pyjamas. I know there are articles out there about people working in their PJs but personally I find it hard to get into a working frame of mind if I’m not dressed. In my early days I had to drive my kids to school, so I would then go pick up my mail from the post office and come back home to the office. It became a mindset. So, if possible, set your mind to recognising that once you walk into the room where you are going to work, you have ‘come to the office’ or whatever your normal workspace might be.
Set hours for working – use an alarm if you need to. Determine to start work at a set time and to finish at a set time. If you have a partner and/or family, this will also help them to have some understanding of when you are working and when you aren’t.
Don’t be tempted to get up later in the mornings – use the time you would usually need for travel, to doing things around your home – or for going a walk to start off your day.
Take regular breaks from your work – particularly if you’re in front of a computer screen all day long. This means go and make a cuppa for yourself, get something to eat, and move around for a bit. Sitting or standing in the one place for hours on end is not good for your body.
During your lunch break go outside and get some fresh air. Go for a walk in your garden, down the street, in a local park. Vitamin D, some sunshine and fresh air is needed. Your body needs some activity.
If you are feeling lonely and isolated, then call someone on your phone, preferably someone from your work environment. Not everyone is cut out to working alone at home all day long, every day. But if you do make any phone calls, set a timer so you don’t spend a lot of time on the phone. Or you could have the radio on all day long. I do – the music and voices chattering are in the background, but it helps to feel that I’m not on my own and gives me a sense of companionship. Don’t forget you have neighbours too! You can chat over the fence, or the balcony, or whatever is dividing your homes. Or even across the road – that way you get to see people face-to-face without being close to one another.
At the end of your work day – do other things, a hobby, go outside, work out, watch a movie. Something other than what you do all day for work. You need to be able to switch off and let your mind be refreshed. Just because you have work at home doesn’t mean you have to be doing it 24/7 – and your mind will be sharper if it’s allowed to relax and focus on other things.
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