Hello, my friend. I'm excited to be sharing with you a new series I have created for you all about careers. The first few episodes starting at the beginning. Okay, maybe not that far back for some of us.
However, I wanted to start at the beginning of getting you to think about your future career and ultimately where you see yourself heading. I will be covering a number of episodes getting you to think about mapping out your career. The second part to the career series is where the fun really begins. We will be exploring various topics central to you navigating your career.
There will be times when you may think you have royally screwed up any chance of promotion or advancement. However, don't worry. I will be your guide right there beside you holding your hand along the way. I got your back.
I really do believe true growth and advancement in anyone's life and career comes by embracing the difficulties that crop up by understanding the lesson that has presented itself in front of you. Do you ever feel like you're in a vicious cycle or a virtual loop that you just can't get out of? You think, why am I always attracting this type of person or this type of difficulty? I'll label it that way.
It's more of the difficulty. It's not the people because the people will change over the years. It's the situation that you find yourself in that you just cannot break free from. That is a true signal and sign giving you another opportunity to learn that lesson that you need to learn or improve or develop.
Ultimately, we are then going to wrap up the series by looking at your next steps to get you closer to that vision you have for your life and career. And that's it. Easy? Well, I'll let you be the judge over the next several weeks.
So if you are ready, let's begin the journey to your career success. Sharing a home office for work. Sharing a home office for work. If you can, first and foremost, you want to divide your space.
Each of you will probably need your own desk or workstation. It will help you to stay out of each other's way and reduce distractions. There will be less risk of accidentally carrying off each other's files or losing items. Has this ever happened to you where you've had a pen or pencil on your desk or a notepad or even just some simple things like a post-it note and all of a sudden they're not there anymore because your loved one has borrowed them because they needed something to write on.
So divide up your space and set your domain. This extends to separating your stuff. Figure out which supplies and equipment you can share and which you'll need for yourself alone. You can probably save money by having one printer and one shredder.
But on the other hand, you may need your own phone line and storage space. Equally, if you're with two different organizations that allow you to work from home, your storage space is not going to be so much of an issue because they will have, they being the organization you're working for, will be giving you a laptop or some kind of a computer and a monitor screen and mouse and all the fundamentals that someone needs in order to do their job. This extends to separating your stuff. Figure out which supplies and equipment you can share and which you'll need for yourself alone.
You can probably save money by having one printer and one shredder. But on the other hand, you may need your own phone line and storage space. Equally, if you're with two different organizations that allow you to work from home, your storage space is not going to be so much of an issue because they will have, they being the organization you're working for, will be giving you a laptop or some kind of a computer and a monitor screen and mouse and all the fundamentals that someone needs in order to do their job. If you can, create some ambience.
Design your office for maximum comfort and cheer. Give it a fresh coat of paint and display some artwork and photos if you haven't done already. But more importantly, it is really important to make sure that you're set up for success health and safety wise, which means you want to make sure that you get the best chair that is going to support you throughout the day and also the right type of desk that will enable you to work effortlessly rather than all cramped or contorted or things like that. So extend it further to giving your office a fresh coat of paint, which is absolutely lovely.
If that's what motivates you or inspires you to work in that environment, then by all means, go out there and grab some new paint colors and have some fun. Equally, display some artwork and photos. Maybe all it needs is just a candle to give you a different scent while you're working and therefore lifts your mood. Whatever it is that works for you, create ambience and make it your own.
If you can, create some ambience. Design your office for maximum comfort and cheer. Give it a fresh coat of paint and display some artwork and photos if you haven't done already. But more importantly, it is really important to make sure that you're set up for success health and safety wise, which means you want to make sure that you get the best chair that is going to support you throughout the day and also the right type of desk that will enable you to work effortlessly rather than all cramped or contorted or things like that.
So extend it further to giving your office a fresh coat of paint, which is absolutely lovely. If that's what motivates you or inspires you to work in that environment, then by all means, go out there and grab some new paint colors and have some fun. Equally, display some artwork and photos. Maybe all it needs is just a candle to give you a different scent while you're working and therefore lifts your mood.
Whatever it is that works for you, create ambience and make it your own. Minimize clutter. At the same time, open space and tidy surfaces are more relaxing. So be selective about your furnishings.
Cleaning up after yourself helps too, rather than leaving a messy desk or tons of papers scattered about ready to be filed or even worse, you can't find a certain bill because it's mixed in with a bunch of other things that are equally important, but it's that pile of, oh, I will get to that later and it later never happens. So just make sure to minimize the clutter because it will help open up the mind and the headspace to allow you to think more creatively as well. Stagger your schedules. If at all possible, you might work different hours.
Again, if this is possible, or again, if your organization has a 50-50 rule or whatever kind of rule whereby they do want you at least in the office at some point throughout the week, then maybe you can set your schedule with whoever's working at home in your home to not necessarily match those days, but then when they're working in the office, you're working in the home office and vice versa. That way you can count on a private office for at least part of the day or part of the week. So hopefully that has given you some creative ideas for the physical that I tried to paint visually for you about separating your stuff. There's one other point that I do want to mention about separating your stuff.
Maybe something as simple as a partition would be the answer or the solution to some of the other kind of constraints that you may have within your house. Now, it doesn't mean to say that you have to go out and buy proper partitions that they sell, well, pretty much in any home store or you buy online. I'm not suggesting that you have to go out and buy even more stuff, but something as simple as maybe perhaps hanging a bit of string or like a clothes wire or something like that in the home and just draping a sheet over it will give you that visual of a separate area. So something else to bear in mind when considering how to arrange and organize your home office space.
Okay, we've talked about the physical office environment. Now I really want to go into the nitty gritty of the etiquette for sharing a home office space. First off, you want to establish boundaries. Planning ahead will avoid many conflicts, but you'll still need to have some ground rules.
Sharing the vacuuming and agree on where to set the thermostat is something that needs to be discussed rather than unspoken expectations of each other. Wear headphones. Volume levels are one of the most common challenges in any shared space. Noise-canceling headphones may help you keep the peace if you prefer different styles of music.
You may also need headsets if you make a lot of phone calls. But again, it's being mindful of, well, I can hear who's on the phone, but your loved ones in the home can still hear you. So it's something that you want to bear in mind when you are both on the phone. You don't want to end up talking over each other, whether you have headphones on or not.
You can still hear people. And equally, if one individual doesn't like wearing headphones and they have the meeting being announced, well, basically they don't have headphones and you can hear their audio. So not only is the individual in your home talking to the people through the computer, but you can also hear everyone else attending the meeting through the computer as well. So just be mindful of wearing headphones and where you situate yourself when it comes to having discussions via Zoom meetings or if you are on the phone.
Wear headphones. Volume levels are one of the most common challenges in any shared space. Noise-canceling headphones may help you keep the peace if you prefer different styles of music. You may also need headsets if you make a lot of phone calls.
But again, it's being mindful of, well, I can hear who's on the phone, but your loved ones in the home can still hear you. So it's something that you want to bear in mind when you are both on the phone. You don't want to end up talking over each other, whether you have headphones on or not. You can still hear people.
And equally, if one individual doesn't like wearing headphones and they have the meeting being announced, well, basically they don't have headphones and you can hear their audio. So not only is the individual in your home talking to the people through the computer, but you can also hear everyone else attending the meeting through the computer as well. So just be mindful of wearing headphones and where you situate yourself when it comes to having discussions via Zoom meetings or if you are on the phone. Stay focused.
Maintain balance by using your home office for work and dealing with personal matters elsewhere. Save personal conversations for after hours. So when you have to discuss about your personal bills or about Sally or Jimmy who had a report card that wasn't up to scratch, save all of those conversations for after hours. Work is work and keeping focused is key because it is so easy, sometimes more than others, to get off track and think, oh, I'm at home, I'll just do this.
Keep your office hours and your work time completely focused on the job at hand. Stay focused. Maintain balance by using your home office for work and dealing with personal matters elsewhere. Save personal conversations for after hours.
So when you have to discuss about your personal bills or about Sally or Jimmy who had a report card that wasn't up to scratch, save all of those conversations for after hours. Work is work and keeping focused is key because it is so easy, sometimes more than others, to get off track and think, oh, I'm at home, I'll just do this. Keep your office hours and your work time completely focused on the job at hand. And finally, be considerate.
Overall, treat your partner with respect and courtesy like you would want to be treated and treat all of your other work colleagues. It's easy to drift into taking each other for granted. So remember what you like about them. Show your appreciation and look for ways to make their life easier too.
And finally, be considerate. Overall, treat your partner with respect and courtesy like you would want to be treated and treat all of your other work colleagues. It's easy to drift into taking each other for granted. So remember what you like about them.
Show your appreciation and look for ways to make their life easier too.