March 16, 2020 · 7 min read

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Over the past two months, Morning Brew spent some time compiling everything you need to remain a functioning member of society while working from your living room.

*New updates from 5/19: We sprinkled the most-clicked recommendations from The Essentials throughout, with a focus on our Just Have Fun section.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Stay Informed

While you’re living out your best socially distanced life, you can always stay informed with the latest ’rona news by visiting the CDC, the WHO, and JHU websites.

Here’s a dashboard that tracks the outbreak, a thread of other recommended resources, and our own guide to volunteering/donating for COVID-19 relief efforts.

Stay Productive While Working From Home

Remember, Shakespeare wrote King Lear while the plague shut down theaters. Here’s how you can accomplish something of similar value to humankind.

Setting up a proper workstation

Experts recommend setting aside a workspace to get you into “work” mode. If you have a beechwood standing desk with three monitors and a view of the ocean, well la de da. If you don’t, switch up where you’re working when you start to feel like you’re no longer being productive in your chosen spot.

The Mayo Clinic has a guide to setting up an ergonomic workstation, and you might want to also try out a vertical mouse and the right keyboard.

Scent: You can use a candle, incense, or other scent diffuser that you associate with work. We recommend eucalyptus or mahogany.

You can use a candle, incense, or other scent diffuser that you associate with work. We recommend eucalyptus or mahogany. Sound: Play certain music only while working and not while doing anything else, like Spotify’s Lo-fi Cafe and House Focus playlists, asoftmurmur.com, or Big Desk Energy.

Play certain music only while working and not while doing anything else, like Spotify’s Lo-fi Cafe and House Focus playlists, asoftmurmur.com, or Big Desk Energy. Design: Here’s some inspo for your work from home setup

Video Calls: How to not look like an idiot

Appearance: Make sure you have good lighting, keep the angle at eye-level or slightly higher, and have a professional background. It might be time to take down the “Saturdays are for the boys” poster, anyways.

Pro tip: You can activate a beauty filter on Zoom

Etiquette: Be mindful of where you’re looking when you’re lost in thought or talking. Mute yourself when you’re in large meetings, but don’t when you’re in small brainstorms. Call in from a quiet place and keep everything you need close by so you don’t need to leave the screen.

Write talking points and reminders on Post-It notes attached to your screen.

Quit out of any apps you won’t be using prior to the meeting.

Backgrounds: Try these fun ones for Zoom.

Scheduling

Create a time that you’re “in office” every day, and be prepared to start working at that time. Then, decide on a time that you “leave” for the day and mark both on your calendar. Embracing time constraints could help you keep all four of your burners going (friends, family, work, health).

One way to set up your work schedule? Use the pomodoro technique to divide up work into manageable chunks, and use this site as your timer

Try Morning Brew’s favorite time management tools: Calendly and Todoist

Leading a team

Simulate in-person contact: Set up virtual “coffee chats” and “happy hours” more often than you would normally in person. You can’t tap people on the shoulder virtually, and it’s better to save up your Slack ideas and feedback for an actual conversation.

You can also request employees check in every morning at a certain time, and to block off their schedules when they plan to take a workout class or head off to lunch.

Harvard Business has a list of resources to help you effectively lead amid COVID-19.

Things to Do When You’re Not Working

Learn new skills

Read long-form articles

Read books

Exercise

Buy a few key pieces of equipment that you think you’ll use the most, like a yoga mat, kettlebells, and free weights. Then find some workouts you can follow from home.

Amazon Prime Video is a great place to start: If you’re a member, a ton of workouts are already available to you for free.

This database is also full of easy-to-follow one-page routines.

Our favorite fitness YouTube channels: Yoga with Adriene, POPSUGAR Fitness, and Blogilates, but there are plenty more if you run a quick search.

Studios are giving out free workouts online right now as well. Here are some, broken out by type of workout.

Some instructors are also offering live workouts on Instagram:

If you don’t know what kind of workout you want to do, here are some free apps with plenty of options: Try Aaptiv, Neoufitness, or Peloton’s not-just-cycling app for 30 days.

Sites: Classpass is free and unlimited right now, and Obé is free for your first week.

Stay connected to others

The WHO released some tips on how to deal with anxiety. Here’s what you can do if you’re stuck at home, especially if you’re alone...

If you need someone to talk to, 7 Cups can connect you to caring listeners, and if you need trained mental health support ASAP, text the Crisis Text Line

Cooking

Now’s the time to craft unnecessarily complicated three-course meals, or just learn the basics.

Try to minimize your grocery store trips. But if you do go, here’s what to get, according to nutritionists. Then, you can take those staples and create…

Getting bored of water? Learn how to make great coffee with this guide, or mix up a spring cocktail.

You can also make these popular drink recipes from The Essentials: Dalgona coffee with instant coffee or with not-instant coffee and Brew writer Alex Hickey’s dirty horchata.

When you don’t feel like cooking: Uber Eats has waived delivery fees for independent restaurants.

Parenting

Scheduling: This one was shared around the internet

General tips: WaPo

Online education: Khan Academy

After-school activities: Try creating simple science experiments at home using this list of 64 ideas

Clean up your life

Digital: Delete old and duplicate pictures so that pesky iCloud storage reminder finally goes away Clean your desktop (and build a separate folder so you can stop saving to desktop) Delete unused apps, update your software



Physical: Clean out your closet and donate clothes you don’t wear anymore Cancel unused subscriptions



Just Have Fun

Morning Brew favorites

Amazon’s Fleabag, HBO’s Succession, Better Call Saul (old epis on Netflix), ZeroZeroZero, Outer Banks, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a complete guide to non-sports TV from Brew writer Eliza Carter

Watch...

Music The Seattle Symphony is livestreaming their programs for free Here’s a virtual orchestra performance and a balcony serenade from an Italian tenor Now’s your chance to get into opera: The Met is streaming performances for free Diplo is hosting live DJ sets on his Instagram



Listen...

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