Learning Package 4 - Home Sweet Office

The fact that tools like Skype and digital collaboration are letting people work better at a distance — that is a wonderful thing. - Bill Gates, Cofounder of Microsoft.

Working from home is the new reality for many. Turn your home into an inspiring sanctuary. Relegate spaces for work, play and relaxation. Whether you are a newbie or veteran, here is a list of resources to enrich your work from home experience and environment.

Videos

1. How to Turn Off Work Thoughts During Your Free Time by Guy Winch

Worried that working from home might mean that you’re on call 24-7? Create psychological boundaries to differentiate between your work hours and downtime to prevent burnout.

Source: How to Turn Off Work Thoughts During Your Free Time (2020, January 21). TED.

2. Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work by Jason Fried

Feeling more productive working from home than you ever were in the office? Here’s why.

Source: Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work (2012, August 30). TEDx.

Articles

3 Tips to Avoid WFH Burnout

Laura M. Giurge and Vanessa K. Bohns. Published on Harvard Business Review, 3 April 2020.
The boundaries between “work” and “home” can become increasingly blurred when you work from home. How do you leave work at the door when you don’t even leave the house? As more and more of us transit to remote working options amidst the Circuit Breaker period, paying attention to our mental health and learning to recognise the signs of burnout are more important than ever. In this timely article, learn how taking breaks and implementing transitions from work to rest can help us avoid burnout.
Visit this website to learn more.

eBooks

Remote: Office Not Required

Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

Call Number: English 331.2568 FRI -[BIZ]. London Vermilion, an imprint of Ebury Publishing, 2013.
“Move work to the workers, rather than workers to the workplace”? Yes, please! Remote: Office Not Required is a timely manifesto on how the perks of working “off-site” outweigh the drawbacks. For those of us working from home, this book is your indispensable guide to doing so.
Borrow the eBook with the app📱 or online💻.

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport

Call Number: English 303.4833 NEW. New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2019.
Cal Newport offers ways in which we can intentionally use technology to maximise its benefits and allow us to focus on meaningful work, while minimizing its potential drain on our attention and time. Altogether, presenting a better way to live and to work.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

The Long-Distance Leader: Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership

Kevin Eikenberry

San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018.
If you are new to leading a team remotely, you will find the leadership models in this book a useful guide to managing your team wherever they are.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

Attention Management: How to Create Success and Gain Productivity - Every Day

Maura Thomas

Call Number: English 153.733 THO. Naperville: Simple Truths, 2019.
Yet to adjust to working from home and find yourself constantly distracted? Try the practical strategies in this book to regain focus and live a life of choice instead of a life of reaction.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation

Donald M. Rattner

New York: Skyhorse, 2019.
Let your environs inspire the best you! Feeling particularly uncreative while stuck at home? Try changing your physical surroundings! This book lists 48 techniques to boost your creativity at home.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals

Clea Shearer

Call Number: 648.8 SHE. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2019.
The world may feel chaotic but we can create a sense of calm within our physical surroundings – and by extension, our own headspace – simply by reorganising! In this room-by-room guide, learn how you can reorganise your belongings systematically and in doing so, establish new order in your home.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (and Everyone Else)

Fay Wolf

Call number: English 648.8 WOL. New York: Ballantine Books, 2016.
Turn a chaotic house into a creative workspace with Wolf’s simple and accessible decluttering methods.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.

Office Zen: 101 Ways to Make your Work Space Calm, Happy and Productive

Emma Silverman

Skyhorse, 2017.
With the Zen principles of mindfulnesss and simplicity, learn a framework for work-life balance, and bring peace, calm and fulfilment into your workspace and life. For example, being meditative and calm in our daily interactions is one way.
Borrow the eBook with the app 📱 or online 💻.