AdNews last year launched the WFH Diaries during the depths of the fallout from the pandemic, a way of sharing how people were spending their days.
This time we're asking for a run down on how everyone likes to start their day working from home. Some dress to impress, others slip on the t-shirt.
And everyone has their own way to carve the day into manageable chunks.
Scott Oxford, Head of strategy and creative, New Word Order:
How do you start your today? Dressed in? Shoes?
I start even normal working days in the home gym – OCD routine of up at 4.30, double shot coffee, news/social catchup, glug some pre-workout then an hour of gym before waking the family after and get them alive for work and school. But without a drive commute I take the choccy Lab Hazel (who is normally our office dog too – and our official head of People & Culture) for a ‘sniff’ walk in the bush near where we live, Instagram the squiggly gums and occasional koala and wallaby, and use the bush air as inspo for whatever I was briefed on the day before. Last week the bush gave me some creative that has excited me every day since. And this is one of those things I like to call ‘The Gifts of Covid’. Then it’s a second double shot, bowl of granola and yoghurt, and straight into daily WIP on Zoom with my work family.
Tips for getting through the day?
Snacking is the killer. I’m so damned disciplined with my food, except when I’m working at the kitchen table, between the pantry, the kitchen bench and the fridge. But it’s nothing a tablespoon of better than average crunchy peanut butter doesn’t curb and I’ve found getting outside with the laptop makes life far less distracting. I also learned early on to not let video calls go back-to-back and stop you from toileting or eating. After the first time it got to 4 pm and I’d been busting since10, hungry since 9 and had not paused to breathe, or do either thanks to a full day of overlapping Zoom/Teams purgatory.
Distractions?
The bloody cats. They are so damn demanding. Let me in. Let me out. Feed me. Change my litter. Look at me. Pat me. Don’t touch me. Touch me but not there okay. Let me out again. The freaking meowing bores through your brain (yes, Bengals and Burmese for those in the know) and gets through all of Apple’s best earphone noise cancelling technology. Aside from the cats, did I mention the kid’s lunchbox snacks are also bloody distracting. Argh!
Upside. Downside.
I love my team and I know what we do means face to face is best. But I really love the space of lockdown (I’m totally glass half full, remember the Gifts of Covid nonsense I mentioned? Yes, bloody copywriter in me coming out there. Honestly though I’ve been completely gobsmacked at how well they have all coped (they are creatives after all!) and how our work has not just survived but thrived. I love that clients permission us to turn up on video as we are, with all our messy life sitting onscreen behind us, because it’s the same for them. I did two big pitches outdoors last week backed by real local birdsong (5 people in the household online doing school and work blew up our NBN and the phone tether signal was better out there). I also did a new biz meeting with two of the loudest, most immovable Kookaburras I’ve ever heard, ‘laughing’ for 10 minutes on a branch near my head. The Singaporean client on the other end felt brand Australia itself had turned up on that call, and that I had somehow arranged it. If only!
So, the upside is all in the reframing - best advice I ever got for making a bad situation better.
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