Morning Brew's Guide to Living Your Best Quarantined Life

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Table of Contents

Prologue: Stay informed

Chapter 1: How to stay productive while working

  1. Setting up a proper workstation
  2. Video calls: how to not look like an idiot
  3. Scheduling
  4. Leading a team

Chapter 2: Things to do when you’re not working

  1. Learn something

Skills

Long form articles

  1. Exercise
  2. Stay connected to others
  3. Cooking
  4. Clean up your life
  5. Just have fun

Watch

Listen

Play

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, and check which events are canceled here.

Chapter 1: 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.

  • Scent: 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 playlist, 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.

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. Also, schedule in...

  • Cooking and eating, so you don’t end up eating entire jars of pickles or taking frequent breaks to cook three-course meals.

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.

Chapter 2: Things to Do When You’re Not Working

Learn new skills

Read long-form articles

  • Big Ideas
  • Business Strategy
  • More

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. Some options:

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...

Cooking

  • Coffee: Making your own coffee can save time and money. Here’s a good guide.
  • Casseroles: Get out your grandma’s Better Homes & Gardens and make some ‘60s-style casseroles. Our favorites are green bean and vegetable.
  • Easy-to-cook meals

Parenting

  • Homeschooling:
  • Scheduling: This one was shared around the internet
  • General tips: WaPo 

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

Watch...

  • Business movies
  • Morning Brew favorites
  • Amazon’s Fleabag, HBO’s Succession, and Better Call Saul (old epis on Netflix)
  • A more general list
  • Lists of comforting TV shows you can stream:  list 1 and list 2
  • Not necessarily comforting, but a long list of spring 2020 TV shows
  • Westworld season 3 is back on HBO, Marc Maron has a new Netflix special, Frozen 2 is on Disney+, Dave is now on Hulu
  • Or if you want to revel in the apocalypse: I am Legend (Prime), Zombieland (Prime), World War  Z (Hulu, but read the book first), The Day After Tomorrow, Mad Max (Cinemax but who has that), This is the End (Prime)
  • How to watch Netflix with your friends
  • Cultural thingz

Listen...

  • Podcasts
  • Music

Play...

  • Games
  • Corona Memes

Suggestions

What should we add to this guide? Share your suggestions here.