What did lockdown mean for you? A relaxing chance to read more than you ever have? A Netflix binge? A few odd jobs ticked off? A frantic juggle fitting in work around the family?
New Zealand’s recent experience with lockdown demonstrated the diversity of how we work today. For some, working from home is a dream come true; the opportunity to lounge in activewear all day long, while still achieving a full workday.
For others, the lack of delineation between work life and home life provided plenty of challenges. Getting in an eight-hour day while home-schooling the kids, walking the dog, exercising and running a household? Not happening.
Having run a home business for years while raising two rapidly growing boys, I know how much of a productivity disaster working from home can be. As we return to usual work life after lockdown, the limitations that people have been noticing about remote working are becoming apparent.
Social company is so crucial to us as humans, and feelings of isolation and loneliness are really common in people who don’t actively engage in regular human contact.
Contemporary workplaces
Tauranga’s growth in the last few years has led to more and more of us working from home offices. Since COVID-19, we’re seeing a shift towards more flexibility from even the most traditional of workplaces.
Whether working for yourself or working away from the corporate office set up, working in your own way has become more legitimate. With this, there’s an acknowledgement that everybody’s working life is different, and that finally, that has become okay. The 9 to 5 ‘clock in’ is becoming a welcome relic of the past.
Those of us who have been working parents for years are silently whispering ‘about time’ under our collective breath. We’ve known forever that we work best in an environment that suits our own working style.
However, working flexibly and working from home has its challenges too.
Let’s be honest, as great as it is to roll out of bed and into your work chair, it can get a little tedious only having the dog to bounce ideas off. Add to that how easy it is to over-focus on your work. You can never escape it – it is there after dinner, and it’s there before breakfast. And there’s always that next load of washing that really should go on.
Understanding the need for connection
So how do you get the best of the work from home lifestyle without the focus and isolation challenges that it naturally brings?
It’s perhaps no surprise that having experienced the disconnection that came with COVID-19 and lockdown, people are now seeking connection at a far greater level than before. Whether it’s making time in your workday to leave the house for some human interaction, or setting up office in a co-working space with like-minded professionals, having someone else around to share your day is important.
Bloom Co – a shared workspace at The Lakes, Tauranga 
It’s about living consciously. It might be a bit of a buzzword, but by deliberately making choices about your lifestyle and who you surround yourself with, we can really make some impact. Think about how suddenly motivated you feel when you are talking to someone passionate about what they do. Positivity and energy are contagious, they rub off, and the benefits are endless.
We’re creatures of habit, and sometimes breaking those habits can be the change we need to become more effective. How many times have you done something without even realising you’re doing it? Autopilot can become our default state.
If you’re working from home, choose wisely and consciously how you spend your day. Perhaps it’s simply ensuring you’re up, showered and dressed before checking your emails for the first time. Perhaps it’s a regular meet up with other flexible workers in your suburb, or a regular day a week in a shared working environment where you can bounce ideas off others.
Choosing to live consciously means working consciously too. In lockdown, we missed that sense of connection and inclusion from being with others. Now that we have the freedom to communicate and collaborate, is it time to introduce some new routines into your workday to really make the most of what you have?
Jade Maddox (cover image) is Managing Director of BloomCo, a shared work, meeting and event co-working space in The Lakes area of Tauranga. She’s passionate about supporting and connecting people in business and, when she escapes the office, can usually be found taxi-driving her teenage boys to sports, or off camping in her VW van Olive.
hello@bloomco.nz | www.bloomco.nz
