Candide in Voltaire’s masterpiece said to Pangloss as he was returning home: “We must take care of our garden”. To which Pangloss answered: “For when man was put into the garden of Eden, it was with an intent to dress it: and this proves that man was not born to be idle”. “Work then without disputing,” said Martin; “it is the only way to render life supportable.”

For most of us, work now happens at home. Within the MBG team, we are used to working from home since 2012. Amanda and Emilie, have therefore come up with 13 tips for Working From Home in an effective manner.
Good luck to all of you. Don’t give up, your future is what you make it.

1. Embrace the Bed desk. On days when you just don’t feel like it or want to “treat yourself”, work from bed. It’s one of the perks of working from home. And if you have the chance to be with your second half, work from bed naked, you’ll see it might spice up your relationship. Avoid making video conferences though.

2. Weekly To-do lists using TRELLO of course.

3. Meet your team online using Infomaniak’s free, secure videoconferencing device MEET to organize an online meeting securely from your home or on the go.

4. Infomaniak launched the most secure cloud – the KDrive – in Europe for SMEs and private individuals. 90 days free of charge during COVID-19 confinement.

5. Netflix/Apple TV/Streaming lunch breaks with Call My Agent, Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show, or something fun to keep yourself happy.
You may also enjoy a work-out lunch break with Impulse Pilates free online courses.

6. Daily performance management where we break goals into actionable items. Find ways to recognize good performance under partial confinement and adjust as you go on a daily basis.

7. Wake up early, witness that Mother Earth is super happy lately, get dressed, and do your hair or make-up to keep in sync with the rest of the world.

8. 15 min. of daily social networks monitoring; if you do more, you’ll see and/or listen to too much crap. It’s time for a REALITY CHECK; your REAL friends are the ones who call you or WhatsApp you after work.

9. Working remotely requires you to over-communicate. Tell everyone who needs to know about your schedule and availability often. When you finish a project or important task, say so.

10. Use a VPN whenever you’re connected to a network that you don’t control. And that includes Wi-Fi at your home.

11. Keep a dedicated office space in an ideal world where you have 2 computers (one for work and one for personal use) and define some peripherals only for work use.

12. Set written ground rules with other people in your home. Still applies to pets 🙂

13. Remain calm, dream BIG, and plan a future trip now that the terms are in your favor. Visit My Big Travel for inspiration!