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Ask HN: WFH because of the pandemic? What is the most challenging task for you?

3 points by feriforgacs ↗ HN
If you just started to work from home because of the current situation, what are the most challenging tasks for you in your day to day life? What is something that was really easy previously and became painful as you started to work remotely?

10 comments

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lysium
My main point was telling my family I am not available although I am physically present.

Next was not to do housework in between. It always takes longer than I anticipate.

feriforgacs
Are you still following your normal daily schedule (eg. wake up the same time, dress up for work, pretend like go to work, etc) or you've set up a new one for this situation?
lysium
Same routine, except I don’t leave the house. I’m thinking about actually doing that. :-)

I learned it helps my mind to get into “work“ mode when I put on my office clothes. Not so much if I stay in a T-shirt.

neilsimp1
Motivation.My wife and one of our friends says the same thing. It is very difficult to stay focused and actually do work. It's difficult to care.
feriforgacs
Do you think that's because you are home (which is not the place for work usually) or because you have fewer things to do? Or instead of work, you are focusing on what's happening in the world right now?
muzani
I've worked for years at home and only recently at an office. A lot of people blame the kids, distraction, etc, but I disagree that it's the only factors.

If anything, maybe it's just too easy. There's no grist, no driving out, no parking, no meal hunting. The lack of movement makes one lazy, which becomes a feedback loop of no movement. It's similar to how in college study weeks, it's easy to just sit in bed with a laptop all day and yet get nothing done.

feriforgacs
Maybe it's just me, but I like that I don't have to spend time preparing myself for work, travelling to the office, hunting for launch, etc. I'm not moving a lot on a daily basis, but I don't feel that hurts my productivity. Although I have a daily routine I'm trying to follow as much as possible (get up in time, do my breakfast, get some housework done before starting to work, etc).
neilsimp1
It's so many things.

- We just moved, so I'd rather be unpacking and organizing our stuff.

- I'm sitting at my home PC, where I normally work on fun projects that I care about, or play games, etc. There are two projects I am itching to do right now that I could be doing at my computer, but instead, I'm reading work emails.

- I am admittedly a bit burnout from my actual job right now.

- Three cats who want to climb all over me and my computer desk all day, and a dog who wants to play and go outside all provide excellent distractions.

feriforgacs
That sounds like a lot to deal with. Have you tried to mix your normal work with housework? Eg. working on work-related things from 9 to 11, do some unpacking and organizing from 11 to 12, back to normal work from 12 to 13, so on and so forth. While you are away from your computer, you can check your mails on your phone for "urgent" messages, so if someone really needs you, you can go back to your pc. That's probably not going to solve the issue with your pets :D But maybe it can help with all the other stuff.
smarri
Working more hours than I normally would