When it comes to working from home, what starts as an interesting new experience can easily turn with time to an experience filled with solitude and a sense of repetitiveness. Being stuck at home due to Covid-19 probably makes the whole thing even worse. But there are always things you can do to make your experience a bit more seamless.

With that in mind, we've asked few team members at Gemography about their own Do's and Don'ts when it comes to coping with suddenly working from home, especially during times like these. Here's what they had to say:

Serrah, Head of Operations

Do's :

1. Have a comfortable, quite, dedicated workspace and let everyone in the house know that you are actually working!
2. Keep the informal “kitchen talk”! Call your coworkers, have your usual chats, very important to have human interactions!
3. Enjoy being at home! Listen to music, try cooking, exercise, try stretching!
4. Stay positive. It will help your team and your family. These are challenging times, we are all very stressed but it won’t last. Think of what’s going to happen after this is over. Stay positive and stay safe.

Don’ts

1. Don’t mix work time and “life” time. You need breaks and you need to get “out of the office”.
2. Don’t get distracted by the news! Turn your notifications off. Checking the news, specially the fake ones, is having a HUGE impact on us all. Try to keep calm (I know it’s hard) and only check news from viable sources during your breaks.

Khalid, Senior Software Engineer

Do's :

1. Get your daily dose of internet.
2. Listen to some samba on Spotify xD

Hicham, Head of Product

Do's:

1. Location, Location, Location. I found it very hard to work in the same spot where I usually relax or play videos. Find yourself a dedicated workspace (I'm working on it )
2. Use little breaks to chat with your office buddy(ies) as you used to do in the office. Also you can use Tandem, which great for that.
3. Have a to-do list for the day. It's very important and makes you feel in control of your day. Set the next day's to-do preferably before wrapping up at 6 pm each day
4. Burn some calories. I recommend Bowflex to do some HIIT workouts.

Soukaina, Head of Growth

Do's:

1. When it's sunny, try to be in the sun for at least 10 min, whether it's at the window, balcony, terrace or "ste7". It helps when you're home confined all day.
2. Be gentle but firm with older family members to explain the seriousness of the situation, awareness goes a long way.
3. Use screensharing abundantly (combined with a call), it can make explaining things much easier. Screen recording on Loom works too.

Ali, Software Engineer

Do's:

1. Share all memes and jokes you can find with your teammates.
2. Drink all the liquids you can find (water, tea… )

Don’ts

1. Think as little as possible of the negative fallout of what's happening.
2. If you’re alone at home, substitute physical social interactions with phone calls (or video calls).
3. Experiment with a new hobby (maybe learn to play music instruments).

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