Feature Article: Work From Home is a ‘Family’ar Terrain!

Human beings are programmable. We are nothing but a ‘bio-chemical-algorithm’. Just think of it. Our hardware-the body, manages itself very well. Whether we are ‘present’ are not. Even when we were absent yesterday night, it digested all the dinner we ate. It managed the breathing rhythm, temperature and even hit the mosquito that sat on our body, in a reflex action. As a matter of fact, the it ‘doesn’t need’ us. We only need to maintain and help it perform better.

Coming to our software side. We are blessed with an unlimited and expandable hard disk, a super processor and quite a bit of RAM (70,000 thoughts-program code) per day, besides the pre-loaded ROM (DNA), OS and other sub-routines. With our (Mind) Control Unit, we are actually programming ourselves every day. Deciding to do ‘what we want’ and ‘making it happen’ in the world around us. Hence, we are the masters of our destin(y)ation.

Paul Goleman in his book ‘Change Your Habits & Change Your Life in 21 days’ points to this. Surprise. Just look at it. We have exactly got 21 days to install or uninstall any habit into our lives, thanks to the Corona Confinement! Wow. It’s Nature’s choicest gift moment.

Coming to our current-reality, i.e., Work From Home, it doesn’t appear to be any different. Take a look. In the workplace, you go on a Monday with a long ‘To Do List’ and your superior calls for a meeting. Gives you entirely different priorities, based on situational/business compulsions. In the end, your list remains, piles up to add to the next day’s kitty. 

Same story at home, you decide to clear your official mail and your boss at home, spouse, assigns you a household chore. To you it may seem unimportant or at worse a nuisance, but the spouse has to manage the Family Organisation based on the current compelling circumstance. You see, (No) Maid at Home challenge.

Think again, are you confined ‘ONLY at home’? Actually, in our workplaces too, we have confined-cabins and cubicle enclosures. The purpose is to help focus on the tasks in hand and find meaningful, timely and cost-effective solutions. How about your peer coming from next cabin to gossip and waste your time? At home, unexpected calls from your relatives and friends suck up your time. 

Again, at work place, your team members need your time share for guidance. And at home, you have children needing your help and direction in their studies. Elders looking forward to interaction. So WFH is in fact a ‘family’ar time for us. Nothing new. And not so difficult to manage.

If you think I am painting a rosy picture, let us now deal with the challenges. First and foremost is the startup trouble. If we think it’s a Sunday, then your schedule goes for a toss. You have to wake up at the same time as that of a workday. Else the Sunday-siesta will install a bad habit of late rising in you. Look at ‘The 5 AM Club’ book by Robin Sharma. Not only read it, but also do wake up consistently. And surprisingly on subsequent days, you will find your body waking you up without needing to set an alarm.

What are the other problems? When my junior colleague sent a message frantically seeking guidance, I was washing utensils! And when I called her to send out an important broadcast, she was cutting vegetables. How do we deal with these ‘real-time’ issues of life? Deciding to block work times and sync with team members during mutually convenient slots of a day.

In fact, I learnt a lesson from my niece when her Visa was delayed and had to work from home. She gently excused herself from the family members and locked her up to be in tune with her team mates located all over the globe. She was not only very conscious of the various time zones of the world but also of her own project timelines. With technology support and self-discipline, it is clock work and hence a cakewalk. Possible by all of us. 

Back to the benefits. Working from home, you can save on the travel time. In fact, I hear audiobooks while driving, making best use of one hour of my day. You can initiate a self-directed-learning programme, read a book of your choice, watch a developmental video and start a physical regimen to help the hardware perform better. But strictly switch off the TV and see it for half-an-hour a day to catch up with the happenings of the world or watch a humour show to laugh out the stress.

Charles Duhigg, in his book, ‘The Power of Habit’ underscores, how easy it is to start or end a habit, if we ‘decide to do it’. In fact, the basal ganglia-small module in side our brain, developed over millions of years, helps us set up our routines. From detailed research, the author goes on to prove that not only individuals, but business corporations and even societies tune up to beneficial habits. 

We evolved from apes. Any doubt? Watch some of our behavior and there is enough proof. Don’t need to search behind to spot a tail. Our inability to stop the incessant noise in our head and focus intensely on the current moment, is universal. Our challenge and opportunity NOW are to tame the monkey mind and assign daily routines to it.

We ape influential people at work. If you observe carefully, we copy their behavior, language and even attitudes, unconsciously. Come to think of it. If we successfully manage this Covid-period Working From Home, we would have professionally impacted our children’s behaviour and family members positively, for a life time. To manage our mind, time and life with a strong SOP, I mean, a Sense of Purpose.

By hitting this habit loop, I am sure, henceforth, we will all love to ‘Work From Home’. But with ‘Good-Habits-Made-Easy’, I guarantee you, we will never be able to ‘Sit At Home’!