spk_0:   0:00
well, Thio family podcast where we believe you all fallible and what you do matters

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Thistles. Episode number 40 Climbing.

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We're getting there.

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That's awesome. Getting somewhere? Yes. I'm Justin. And I'm Shawna. Would How are you, honey?

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I'm doing well. How are you today?

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Good. You feel stress about life?

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I tell you what people like. I am grateful for technology, but it is Startinto. Wear me out

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when it doesn't work.

spk_0:   0:48
Yes, because you can have all of a sudden all of these people using technology without having some major technology fails. All right, so today what are we talking about?

spk_1:   1:01
I don't know.

spk_0:   1:02
Today we're talking about

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I do know

spk_0:   1:05
I know, you know, stress from working at home.

spk_1:   1:10
Right? So we have tons of experience. Yes, Um, about working from home. We've done it for a lot of years. We have It's very stressful at times. It's so rewarding at other times when you say yes. So it's a mixed bag and you can do it. Hopefully. Ah, you are adjusting to it. And hopefully this will help you a lot.

spk_0:   1:29
That's what If there was a point in my life and I was like, Oh, I wish I could do because I was home full time, focused on being a mom for a long time. And so it was like, Oh, I wish I could do something from home That would be fantastic. And I had this big lovey dovey, a unicorn and rainbows idea in my mind of what it would be like.

spk_1:   1:49
Oh, boy,

spk_0:   1:51
it does have a lot of benefits, but I'm definitely come to believe that it's easy to have a lot of negatives, kind of the negatives of both sides, Um, working

spk_1:   2:04
from home, I think. Definitely check out introvert, extrovert, because you struggled as an extrovert. We didn't realize it right. That was part of the deal. Yeah,

spk_0:   2:13
definitely. So this has been what's funny because now it's a really perfect mix for me is that my office is at home, but I do a lot of appointments away from home, and that's a beautiful, perfect place for me and for our family. But since the shelter in place has taken place, I've been doing all of my meetings virtually, which means I'm not leaving home and it has been stressful, and it is pretty much just kicked My tail on several days and I went into the kitchen

spk_1:   2:47
because you're working a lot more hours a ce faras, like with on the audio on the technical side trying to help people run a program that you know how to run. Right? But you have to run these meetings and things,

spk_0:   2:59
right? And just because I can do it doesn't mean I enjoy doing it right. So, um, so I walk into the kitchen and I'm just like you and I make some comment about being wiped out, and our 12 year old looks at me and he's like, Mom, you're not working. Hardly at all. I was like, Oh, son, I am doing more meetings now than I have, Then I usually do. He's like, Oh, no, no, you're not because I he

spk_1:   3:27
didn't mean it insulting.

spk_0:   3:28
He didn't mean it. Insulting.

spk_1:   3:30
He meant it as we're home together, right? And that's why he enjoyed

spk_0:   3:34
it. I spent a lot of time on the road, right, So I didn't wasn't gone. So he really thinks that this is positive, right? And I'm glad.

spk_1:   3:44
I think the only thing you're really struggling with besides maybe technology is just the extra, very mature, extra itself, not being with people, right? That's I think, a big thing. So yeah. Yeah. So Okay.

spk_0:   3:57
All right. So we have put together a list of four things that you can do to help reduce your stress if you're working from home. But each of these has a lot of sub points. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna break them up into two episodes. So the ones that we shared today applied to you, even if there's no one else in your house, If you live totally by yourself and you're working from home, it is possible for that to be stressful. So

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we're gonna talk

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about some things to help,

spk_1:   4:27
for sure for sure. Yeah, because once you realize, yeah, you'll get to that place if you haven't already like, Oh, my gosh, I'm not gonna make it working from home.

spk_0:   4:36
And one of them is It's just a big mental shift to go from, especially for people who are employed by a business. And you kind of know what your role is, and you show up and you do your job well, and that's the end of it. You're having to do a mental shift of now You are showing up and you're doing your job well. But you're also your supervisor because you have to be navigating that from the mindset of productivity in that kind of thing,

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Right? So, yeah,

spk_0:   5:01
so that shift can be stressful

spk_1:   5:03
very much. But

spk_0:   5:04
then some really practical things that we've picked up first big tip is you need to have a good work environment. So, like, find a designated place that you're going to do the work.

spk_1:   5:17
Yeah, I would say we have probably had a dozen when you say a dozen different office spaces and times everything from this apartment that's outside the house. We've had that. A couple. I've used it as an office you've used as offices. But again, heating and cooling our problem out there. Right? But it's hard to regulate, right? We've used almost every room in the house, plus the basement. Yes. We didn't use the bathroom or the kitchen.

spk_0:   5:44
Oh, but yeah, at times I've used the dining room table.

spk_1:   5:47
Right.

spk_0:   5:48
I can tell you from experience. Don't use the dining room table as your workplace because no one else is going to respect to that and it continues. Even if you're living by yourself and you can respect that, it really makes this blurring of what is your work space and what is your home space?

spk_1:   6:07
And that is a huge psychological issue, because you will find yourself working when you shouldn't be working sometimes, right? And you'll find yourself distracted when you should be working at times, right? And so we're gonna talk about what you can do to help do work through that right? But it is a huge psychological shift.

spk_0:   6:27
So things to contemplate when you're looking around your home and you're trying to figure out where is my designated workspace gonna be. So the easy obvious one is that you have to have good Internet wherever you're gonna be working. If you're working on line, which most of us are these days. Electric access. If you have a landline, they're also going to be using in conjunction. You know all of those kind of things. Then you get into what does your background look like because I've been to lots of virtual meetings with people, and sometimes people don't think through what they're back, but you really should, because it's very distracting if you got like your underwear hanging out back there.

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Whatever. Don't hang your underwear about

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being your

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underwear. So we just we just painted this weekend. So we did like blue back here,

spk_0:   7:19
and not that you have to paint, but even like here's one trick is that I cut a board that I can sit in my favorite chair. It's that brown chair back there and y'all can see it. Justin,

spk_1:   7:30
That's my chair. That's the problem. That's another irritation with this whole thing. Working from home, I have a sacred chair. I'm in a grand five. Every in your gunfire has a leather chair to sit in. I have mine to set in. And what do I do? I come in here to just get away from everyone and my wife's yapping on the phone or on some women are thing. Yeah, that was really irritated about that this morning. By the way, talk about this. Let's talk about how irritated I was that you were in my chair. I just need a break from the kids. And I was like, I just needed so set my chair. You just looked at me, huh?

spk_0:   8:12
So I could.

spk_1:   8:13
I don't think you appreciate how irritated I was

spk_0:   8:16
crust. So on the two arms of the chair it goes across. Then I could put my laptop on there and have a work space with Onley the wall behind me. So see, this is a perfect example because I thought I was being very loving and kind because by doing that, Justin had the freedom for the whole rest of the bedroom. He could go get stuff he could lay down on the bed. He could do all these things because all people would see was literally just the wall behind me. So communication with those who you

spk_1:   8:48
live with, Probably a

spk_0:   8:49
point that should be discussed, all right. It needs to be a place that you can safely leave papers. There is nothing worse, even if it yourself. If you were using like the dining room table, for example, and you're continually having to move papers back and forth even if you're the only one, you're just increasing the chances of Murphy's law going into action of that important paper being lost, right? So if you have just, even if it's just a shelf that you know, you can always put your papers there when you come back or when you're looking for that paper. You know, it's gonna be in that spot

spk_1:   9:27
and keep it organized. Yeah, run it like it is your business, like right. Like however you're gonna get inspected.

spk_0:   9:35
There are some people that, you know, they just always gonna have messy desks. So if you have a messy desk kind of person is probably not gonna change for you. But if in your work space, when other people are around you you typically have a clean area and it's organized, you should replicate that at home, maintain that same level, and this could be an opportunity for you become more organized. And me even if that's not how you were in an office before,

spk_1:   9:59
right? I will say this too. I don't know if you have this on here. Um, but you need a dress like you're going to work, right? So you do a good job. You've done this for a long time. Even if you're gonna be home, you change. You start off the morning getting dressed, right, putting on your makeup, doing whatever you do, write, paint your face. Yeah,

spk_0:   10:20
I'll even put on makeup to do a podcast That's not on Facebook just because, like that mentally gets me into the groove of I am doing work now,

spk_1:   10:29
right? So it is good. I had to start my morning early off early in the morning when I get going. Excuse me, I am. I've noticed a big difference with myself, right? If I what clothes I wear, Not necessarily when I'm working, but the afterward that the mo Mentum that makes sense,

spk_0:   10:48
right and sounds in the background. So some of those we can take care of and some of those we can't like, you know, especially if you're living with other people. There's gonna be times somebody a child screams from the next room or whatever, but as much as you can, finding a place that you're gonna be able to control the noise around you, it is super distracting if you're trying to work virtually and have a meeting and you hear all kinds of chaos happening on the other person's side, so trying to control that sound as well,

spk_1:   11:21
which we need to put stuff up. Since we painted, we took everything down off the walls and he has that echo. We kind of sound in here right now. Yeah, we'll work on that.

spk_0:   11:29
The next thing and then we're gonna call it a rap is to schedule out your day, Which may sound crazy if you like. Well, I'm just a home. I'm not going anywhere. Nothing to schedule.

spk_1:   11:39
That is a bad attitude that will not work well for you. We've done that a lot of days.

spk_0:   11:45
It is not a productive use of your time. So actually planning And whether that's at the end of the day, you plan out your next day or if you just want to show up fresh in the morning with a clean mind and full energy, be able to write down like, what are the three things that are most important for you to do today and then write down the times that you're gonna do there and don't forget, like give yourself potty breaks. Include times that you're gonna have meals include times you're gonna go outside and you're just going to breathe fresh air and you're goingto let your eyes rest from looking at the screen so much

spk_1:   12:21
I would 33 things I feel like we've read that over and over again. It really is. I think if you can do three things, right, prioritized, don't just do any random three things. Some personalities just kind of do whatever three things And, like whatever prioritize your top three things. If you get those done for the day, you will be amazed especial with your work schedule. If you say for work these air, the three things I must get done, you will be shocked at how great you feel.

spk_0:   12:56
Especially like

spk_1:   12:56
not 10 things, Shauna. Not 15 or 20 things. She does those you. I feel like I've just not got anything done today. How many times you said that? I say that sometimes. But you say that Well,

spk_0:   13:11
I know, because I'm in

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3123 That's all you need? Three.

spk_0:   13:17
Yeah. So do three things at the end of a week. I mean, that's 15 high important priority things that you've gotten done. Right? So it really is a good way to get things done.

spk_1:   13:27
Okay, we'll stop by the next time.

spk_0:   13:28
Okay. On the next episode we do. We're gonna talk about decreasing stress when you're working from home and there are other people at home with you cause that's a whole other thing dealing with Children, dealing with elderly parents, dealing with spouses who don't understand you looking out for him when you take their favorite chair

spk_1:   13:50
looking out for me.

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All right, guys, we wish you the best, I hope. I know all kinds of people are working from home right now. And in the comments we need to have some feedback on Justin's new quarantine cut. For

spk_1:   14:04
this is my wife's Facebook. Be my If I was a European soccer player, this is the hair I've always wanted. No joke, like forever. I've like, said, You know what? If I could so I just went for it. All right, That's what we do. And we're in quarantine. We just go for the haircuts. That way. Show it to the Facebook. Alright, guys, have a blessed day. Don't forget to connect with us. You could do that on Facebook on Instagram on our website l s podcast dot com. Most importantly, remember, you are valuable and what you do matters. Thank you. Blessings