Welcome to my world

Welcome to the world of working from home. With most of the global population in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people than usual are working from home.

While we’re very lucky to be able to do this, those who are new to the arrangement can find it challenging.

Shifting from the routine of travel to the office, to taking 20 steps to the study or dining room is a shock. It might seem novel to begin with. But if you’re used to having fun at work and chatting with colleagues, working solo can get lonely pretty quickly.

Self-isolation during COVID-19 doesn’t need to mean feeling isolated. Here are my tips to keep on top of the work-from-home routine.

1. Get up, get dressed, and get your workday game face on. This will put you in the professional mindset for a productive and professional day.

2. Create a dedicated workspace. That does not mean working with the laptop balanced on the armrest of the couch. Find a space – even if it’s the end of the dining table – that gives you sensible and safe access to power, and provides a comfortable and well-lit space to work.

3. Reach out to colleagues during the day. We have the technology for professional interactions that will avoid the productivity killer of loneliness.

4. Take breaks and stretch your legs. You would normally be darting around the office, so try to get some incidental exercise into your day. Make sure you eat well at home – and take your meal breaks away from your workspace.

5. Avoid the news and social media. It’s grim and will only distract you from the task at hand. Leave the news until you clock off at the end of the day.

While working from home might be temporary for you, it has been permanent for me for the last two decades. I love it – but I’ve learned how to manage it. And I don’t try to do everything on my own. If I need specialist services, such as graphic design, IT support, or video production, I reach out to my reliable contacts.

If you need professional copywriting support, you can contact me at any time. And if you need video production, I can personally recommend the excellent work of the ANGRYchair team.

Here are some really helpful tips from Dave at ANGRYchair on how to make your webcam conferencing with colleagues or clients look like you’re totally across this work-from-home routine. Check it out.

There, their and they’re – never get caught again

English is a mighty fine and eloquent language to speak – but it can be embarrassingly tricky when writing.

We’re constantly hammering out reports and emails and churning through hundreds (if not thousands) of words each day. It’s understandable if sometimes we come a cropper.

Apostrophes and multiple spelling options are the usual suspects that will stop some writers dead in their tracks. Or the hardy will crash through, oblivious to the danger.

There, their and they’re are on the oft-offender list. And just to add to the frustration, auto-correct will sometimes create the problem, just because it can.

So it’s important to remain vigilant.

Here are three tips to keep these pesky homophones in the perfect usage line.

1. There – it’s often about location, place, or geography. It can also be an abstract reference to ‘being’.

There you are!

Put it over there.

There are plenty of nice lunch options available.

You’ve always been there for me.

Tip: think of location as something that can be ‘here, there and everywhere’ (and ‘here’ is in the word ‘there’).

2. They’re – is simply the contraction of ‘they are’.

They’re such generous and friendly people.

Reading and writing – they’re both things I love to do.

Tip: read aloud without the contraction to make sure of correct usage. If ‘they are’ does not make sense, you’ve got the wrong word.

3. Their – the trickiest of all three, but is merely the possessive form of ‘they’. It refers to ownership of a thing, or an action that belongs to a group of people.             

It was the last leg of their journey.

It was their decision and no-one could alter their thinking.

I’m visiting my parents at their holiday house.

 Tip: to remind yourself of the possessive, look at the ‘heir’ in ‘their’ – an heir takes possession. But double check: their is plural, not singular.