As of today, I have been practising social distancing for more than five weeks. Coming to the lab only for doing necessary experiments becomes my new normal now. On most days, my activities revolves around waking up, doing my home-office stuffs (checking work emails, doing some writings, revisiting research data, and joining webinars), and having some rests in between. Somehow, I am starting to enjoy this new routine and I am amazed that turns out things work this way.

It must be frustrating for us waking up each day, knowing that everything will be the same again and again. Especially if you (like me) live in a small apartment, do not own a proper home-office space, and do not have at least a balcony. It is like being in a cage. Don’t worry! I felt the same during the second until the third week of this self quarantine period. You know what, I felt so happy during the first week but then it was so boring.

So here are my tips to stay motivated (and sane) during pandemie

Wake up at the same time in every working day 

I need to remind myself everyday that this is not a holiday. So I wake up at 7 am, take a shower, and get ready for work by wearing a proper outfit. Proper outfits means no pyjamas.

Set your home-office space

This is quite tricky for me. I do not really have a proper space for working in my apartment. Finally, I set a small corner in my living room as my space. But since yesterday, I found another space that I feel more comfortable. If you have a small apartment, just make sure that you get enough sunlight and good air circulation when you are working. The forbidden places for working are : your bed and sofa.

Aim for feasible work targets

This is important, because if you do not set targets, you will not be productive. My suggestion is to plan your “to-do list” at the end of each day, for the next day. I am a big fan of “to-do list”, because it helps me not to miss anything in my agenda.

Keep yourself hydrated

Don’t skip meal time

Set a time for you to stop working

I normally finish my work at 4 pm. After this time, I will not check any work-related stuffs. And I switch my brain into relax mode.

Do your favorite activities on your free time

I am amazed that I still have enough energy to do another things after I finish working. On the normal situation, I would have been exhausted by the time I reached my apartment after work.

Just remember, we are all in this difficult situation at the moment. This is just temporary, not permanent. But once we resume our activity, perhaps we will have a new definition of what is “normal”.

Take care. Stay healthy!