Ultimate Guide to a Fruitful Work-From-Home Lifestyle

Good morning 🌞 

As many of you know, Mitch works from home. He has done so since graduating college just over two years ago and he LOVES it.

He’s especially been thankful for his work-from-home job since we had Henley. He is able to see her throughout the day and even bring her in on some Zoom meetings.

While working from home has so many beautiful benefits when it comes to family and time, it also has its fair share of challenges.

The lines between work and personal life are completely blurred. When you work and live in the same space, it can be difficult to do both very well at any given time.

Disconnecting from work can be a struggle. This can lead to a lack of presence during family time.

Many of you might find yourself relating if you also work-from-home. Some of you may really want to get a job or start a business that allows you to work-from-home. Overall, we recommend it, but not without a proper framework in place.

Here is our ultimate framework for a fruitful work-from-home lifestyle.

1. Have a dedicated office space

Have an office in your home with a door that shuts. I recommend your office have these things (which I’ll likely dive deeper into in a later newsletter)…

• Standing desk

• Walking pad

• St. Michael statue

• Crucifix

• Saint imagery

• Lamp light

2. Schedule your prayer

Prayer when working from home is strange sometimes. Because you’re not reporting to an office at 8am, there are times you might pray later in the morning than others. It also makes it a little easier to pray throughout the day.

Some days you have morning meetings, some days you have no meetings.

Find the times of day for each day of the week that work for prayer. Remove yourself from your office and have a dedicated prayer corner or chair. I like one of our living room chairs (I’m actually writing this from it right now).

I’ve also found praying the Liturgy of the Hours helps me stay consistent and dive into Scripture at the same time. I’ll mainly do morning prayer and working toward doing more night prayer.

At the end of the day, scheduling your prayer is key. Put it in your calendar, stick to it, and re-evaluate every so often.

3. Communicate your work schedule with your family

It’s important that your spouse and family know your schedule.

Which days to you typically have the most meetings? When are your weekly recurring meetings? Did a client schedule a meeting with you last minute?

Your spouse needs to know these things so they can plan their day accordingly. When you work from home, you are sharing a piece of space that belongs to your entire family.

Strong communication makes it easy for family members to spend time in other areas of the house when you need to focus or meet with people. Your spouse can make sure the kids are quiet when you are in client meetings.

The best non-verbal communication is instituting a door policy. Keep the door closed when you are in a meeting or engulfed in heads-down work. Keep it open any other time. Let your family know the policy. This way, they know when they can walk in and when not to.

4. Find ways to do work alongside family

Some days, you’re going to have less work to do and the work you do have might not require your full attention.

Take advantage of these times and bring your computer out into the living room with your family. After all, this is what work-from-home is all about… more time with family!

5. Develop rituals that signal changes in the day

This is probably the most important one on the list. If you work in an office or factory, you go somewhere for lunch. When it’s time to leave, you shut your things down, get in your car, and drive home. This signals to your body that you are changing gears. Work-from-home people don’t have this, so we have to develop them.

For example, I try to go to daily Mass at 7am. This forces me to get up, get ready, and drive to the church. When I come home, I’m energized and ready for work. My body knows what gear I need to be in.

For my lunch break, I eat and do a workout. This signals to my body that we are halfway through the day.

I’m still trying to master my end-of-day routine, but I know some people will go for a short drive after work to simulate their commute. Some people will go for a walk. Right now, I just shut down my laptop, which really isn’t enough to help me switch gears.

Do you work from home? What’s your experience been?

We hope you’ve found this helpful. If you did, forward it onto a Catholic friend that works from home!

God bless,
Mitch + Tay