41 Four Essentials for Working from Home Part 2

spk_0:   0:00
Well, Theo, Family podcast where we believe you all fallible and what you do matters. This'll number 41 41

spk_1:   0:30
just a few minutes ago. So that's awesome. We're talking about my name. Well, I guess I should start. My name is Justin,

spk_0:   0:36
and my name is Shauna would

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earlier. You said you're doing fine, So that's good.

spk_0:   0:40
I'm still doing fine.

spk_1:   0:41
That's good. I'm putting my hair my hair into after 5 p.m. Load sound dealing with the stress of the cove in 19

spk_0:   0:54
stays. E of you sees here. Good. Go ahead. And book is an appointment for after all of this

spk_1:   1:02
over a while. Okay. We're talking about working from home. Yes. Four essentials, right? Work from home for essentials. We talked about the other two essentials. Yeah,

spk_0:   1:14
in the last episode that we just recorded, we talked about two. And now we're gonna bring you to more. And these two are really important if you live with other people in your house or pets, even.

spk_1:   1:26
Right? So here's a story just from today. You had meetings all morning till what? Two o'clock or so two o'clock ish, and I left the door open. So I can hear a lot of noise now. Um, but we we worked outside today, so we'd stay out of your way. We got the whole garden, I got the garden. Yeah, me and the kids. So I managed to six kids out there that did a great job. I told the garden up, got it. Ready to plants. We're not going to. It's a little bit early still, but they have been working hard. We do raise beds, so they till the garden up. So anyway, we did a lot of good work, and we try to stay out of your hair. Oh, I was frustrated when I came in here to take a break, hoping you would be done or in between, so I could just sit in silence, but it didn't work out that way. So but learning how to navigate block scheduling so that you appreciate each other when you return back together again. Right? So that was that work this morning is very simple. And by the end of it, everybody's kind of like we've got something done, and it's like, Oh, it's time to see Mommy, right? Even though you were here, the whole time, it was almost like you were gone right somewhere else. And the kids, At least we're like, Oh, now we can hang out with Mom,

spk_0:   2:35
right? Yeah. So this is a fun hack. If there's any other, like organizational geeks out there the way I am, what I read in some book, who knows what book a long time ago was, particularly if you're trying to plan for lots of people. So if you're homeschooling like this is why I started this practice. But you can write down like, what are the things that each person needs to do or accomplish in the day, like on index cards? And then you can actually put them all out on the table and see. So, for instance, Justin wanted to get the garden tilled up, so that would have been on the card. I needed to be online meetings that would have been on a card. The kids need to have some time outside playing and working and burning energy that could have been on the card, and we could, you know, navigate and C o. All of these can happen in different locations at the same time.

spk_1:   3:25
Which sounds so simple. That's like, duh. Anybody would do that. But when you work from home and you just get in the grind of life

spk_0:   3:34
but your brain melts at your you

spk_1:   3:36
know, it's just like you like a course. Of course you would play in that. But no, you wouldn't. As we have learned, right, you end up like you want to hurt everyone in your household, right? You want to burn down the

spk_0:   3:46
house. Did you know what could be done?

spk_1:   3:50
Right? Right. And you just get in the zone and you forget about people, right? And what? You know what I mean? But it's like that's so simple. Yes, but it's taken us 10 years to figure that out, right? Probably.

spk_0:   4:00
Yeah. Way just saved you guys. 10 years. You're welcome. So,

spk_1:   4:05
So again, it's so simple. But as best you can. And you, you allow for Flo, right? For example, Like if something would have happened and we couldn't

spk_0:   4:12
have it written out like it's 7 50

spk_1:   4:15
but we've kind of made that are are rhythm right of life as best we can? Yeah, which it's your turn to take the kids and do something so I can sit in my chair. If you hadn't noticed that today I have not had that opportunity. And you're laughing like you're not guilty saying it's not so much a chair, just the I'm not on duty. Someone else can worry about

spk_0:   4:38
it. Not being the pod, the period on duty. Okay, so this is important to consider. Obviously, if you have Children, obviously, if your spouse is also there. But let's take the scenario. If Justin was gone and I have a work day at home like a usual work day at home, then those were times that I would have, you know, like I would tell the kids like, this is what you need to accomplish in this time. I'm gonna go do this when I come back. I'm checking to see if this part is done. And sometimes for sometimes it could be like Okay, Mommy has an important meeting that's getting ready to happen. So my older kids are in charge of playing with the younger kids, like doing puzzles or Legos or whatever they're gonna do for Xbox or X box. And if everybody's really quiet and allows Mommy to do this, then this is going to be the reward. So generally is like if they've done something quiet and educational, then the reward is in screen time.

spk_1:   5:35
So are what if this is an example of what we're doing at this moment. I told the kids they like to make a rocket stove and we can cook out on it. And so I told the kids we're talking about They've been willing to do that for a while since it's gotten warmer. And so I basically said, Hey, we can do that But Mom and I need to do these two podcast, right? So that's what we're doing. We're doing the two podcast in between recording just now. They were like, Hey, here's the update. We got this part raped on the garden. We got the twigs and they're all I told not to use. Have anything sharp while we're You know why we're recording. Because that would ruin the podcast. There's blood everywhere, right? But that's just a practical example. So they are. They are, like, excited and busy. And so when we finish this, you and I are both gonna be excited because we're about to have a cookout, right? You know, like in the next hour. So we're excited, right? And it's gonna feel like a shift for us. Yes, our kids are excited because they're preparing, you know, at their level, right? And walking around the yard, picking up little twigs because with rocket stove, you can make a massive fire really quick. Right? So that's a win win for both of us, right? They're gonna feel like they're champions of the world. We're gonna feel like we got something done.

spk_0:   6:49
Right? So the more you can think ahead, think through one of those things. So we talked before about you know, like, three most important things for you to accomplish is part of your work day and then one of the things that are most important for them to accomplish. Do they have worked from home packets? Do they have? You know, if they're older, if their school age, if they're younger preschoolers, you know, are there some activities that they could be working on while there in the playpen? Even, you know, I mean, toddlers consent there and play blocks by themselves for a little bit.

spk_1:   7:20
Just a CZ. You prioritize your three things that for work that you need to get done when you're working from home. You can also privatize for your kids to articulate. What are the three things you really want to do today? Right. And it will be amazing. You will not have as many fights or arguments because they're doing. You know, obviously I want to go to Disneyland today. Well, you know, that's probably gonna happen, but, um, yeah, you understand,

spk_0:   7:46
right? And even like my 12 year old was like, Mom, I really want T shirts out somewhere close out because it's hot and all I have are winter clothes. So that was the big priority for him. So the bins have been brought out in that kind of thing so that he could switch out his summer clothes.

spk_1:   8:03
That's what The yellow's somebody for that.

spk_0:   8:07
Okay, so considering other people that can even be your pets, you know how often your pets have to go outside. You know how often they have to eat that kind of thing. So putting those things in, you know, if you are gonna have to have a break, you need to look away from the screen. It's not healthy to be looking at a screen for so many hours straight. So strategically planning my daughter's gonna need a walk. My eyes need a break from looking at a screen. You know, we're gonna go take a walk at this time kind

spk_1:   8:34
of thing. And just to keep on that, I have noticed that I really enjoy changing gears when I planned out. When I know, Hey, I'm going to get my important three things done today. My kids are going to get things that they think are important today, right? And it's like we change gears throughout the day. And like now it's already five o'clock, right? Like we're the day go. I've had a great day because, I mean, we've worked really hard today, right? And I got this great haircut.

spk_0:   9:00
Feel free to comment on the new haircut. Quarantine cut. Okay, So the last that brings us to the last thing the importance of food planning and prepping. This is just as important. If you work at home as it is, if you leave for the office for the day because if you are constantly being interrupted and you know it gets to be two o'clock and your tummy's rumbly and you need a snack, and you're like, Oh, I gotta go Peel the carrots, chopped carrots, Find the dip. Whatever for a snack. Um, you know, doing the same thing at night. That's when you usually prepped for the next day Prep for that day. You know, you don't want to take the huge amounts of time to do a lot of work on your food. So if you have simple breakfast, simple lunch and something in the crock pot for supper, if you have some snacks that are already prepped, or particularly if you have Children or elderly parents at home who maybe need assistance with things you know, having meals, ready, snacks ready for them that are accessible so that you're not having to interrupt your work block to do food preparation

spk_1:   10:10
right. And of course, that's a no brainer. You're like, Oh, of course you have to eat. But when you're at home and if you like, you say you have take care of your pets or your kids, which act like it sometimes, right? So it's like you have to. It's just amazing how much time you can waste. If you don't, you'll be like I have spent an hour making a meal. My kids are going to eat in five seconds, right? You know what I mean? And they'll be off and you'll be like, Ah, what happened here? I lost my momentum. I lost all that. So it really is Crock pots, like for us. Crackpots are huge. Yes, for males for dinner, male supper.

spk_0:   10:51
And even, like, if you could just know what if you're not a vegetarian if you know what meat you're gonna have for supper, and you can even have that in your mind, Or you can set that out to thaw. Or you could have something, you know, whether that's in the crock pot. But if you know Oh, I know we're gonna have a roast tonight. And I know I've already sent that out to thaw. Then you don't have that stress towards the end of the work time of like, Oh, my goodness. What are we gonna eat tonight? I'm starving, and I'm exhausted because I've been working all day long,

spk_1:   11:21
right? And like you said, if you can take a normal break at 11 o'clock at 12 o'clock, I'm going to eat lunch. That's very simple, but If you're all over the place, you'll get hungry and you'll just get you know what I mean? Like if you can find a rhythm and flow like, Oh, my kids, like for us? We get sandwich meat or peanut butter. The kids will eat peanut butter and jelly.

spk_0:   11:46
They were lying meals a

spk_1:   11:48
day, so but we haven't set up where they can prepare almost days their lunch. So it's really nice. It's so it's less work

spk_0:   11:58
and, you know, wielding in those systems that we've talked about. So I did have a slight monster moment when I came out and lunch table. What? I mean, like, the dining room table was covered. It still had everybody's lunch everything. And I had some leftover oatmeal bowls and stuff from breakfast. And I was like, Do you not know where these dishes go? So but because things have been stressful just in life in general, um, I have kind of slid back from reminding the kids and holding them to these different structures and habits,

spk_1:   12:31
and part of that was the kids were outside with me working hard, right? Most more, you know, all morning. So when they ate, they ate, and then they went back out. Right? Or they did came what they did right after they were quiet, because I was like, Don't be no, I don't And she's in my chair.

spk_0:   12:51
That's the real thing. I was in the chair. All right, guys. So your overall for essentials for decreasing your stress When you work at home, one doesn't need a place to block schedule your day three. Consider the other people and animals and make arrangements for them and four food planning and prepping. We hope that this was valuable to you. Gave me some things. None of them are rocket science. But we have learned that when you don't do these things, your stress levels elevate and we got enough stress going on in the world. We don't need to create more of it in our homes.

spk_1:   13:27
Yeah, it is many routines as you can fit into these things. Like I use a diffuser. When I'm getting ready to teach and do my work. I put in a certain oil essential oil. I turn on the diffuser and it's crazy because it's like I'm like, Okay, it's time to work, right? And then, yeah, eventually because you're small is your strongest scent. You know, san is your song this Whatever. Thanks. Yeah, yeah, Whatever. Thanks. And it's crazy because when I smell that smell, I'm like, OK, I'm going. I'm going to work even when I smell it. Other places, you know, I'm like, Okay, so I used the elevation Don't care oil.

spk_0:   14:04
Really? Me and I had put in the diffuser at night. That's true. All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning in with us on Facebook live and listening to this episode of the less stress Family podcast. You can connect with us on Facebook on Instagram on our website. L s f podcast dot com If you do go to the website, you throw your name and email and we will send you a thank you. Our guide that we've created our own family of things to get your day started in a little meditation died. So remember, you are valuable and what you do matters. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thank you. Have a blessed day