The At-Home Guide to Owning Self-Isolation

In light of the growing Coronavirus pandemic, it’s safe to say the world as we knew it has changed for a little while as our friends on the frontline work in overdrive to flatten the curve and find a cure. But, what does this mean for everyday folks, like you and I? Well, for many of us, it means limiting our exposure to the outside world, practising social distancing and mastering the art of self-isolation. 

If you’re struggling to find normalcy and ways to maintain a sustainable routine while doing your part to stop the spread of the virus, here is our COVID-19 kit for thriving in self-isolation: your go-to guide for working, exercising and supporting your immune system from the comfort of your humble abode! 

If your boss has sent you home to work in self-isolation, do not fret: you can still create a badass routine, even when everything is seemingly out of whack. While your new makeshift workspace may seem a little quieter and more lonely than usual, if you’re set up for success from day one of working from home, you can learn to own this whole self-isolation thing. While working from home still requires a degree of productivity, let’s not forget that our response to this pandemic is centred around prioritising your health, which means your mental health too...so if you’re feeling a little less productive than normal, don’t be so hard on yourself. These are uncertain times for many, and it’s okay if you’re not working to your full capacity at a time like this. Just do what you can. So, with this in mind, here are our top 5 tips to work effectively from home: 

It’s no secret that when we mix work with leisure, the boundaries become a little hazy...and this is especially true when working where we sleep. To separate the two, it’s important to set boundaries for yourself, including setting work and play times. It’s easy to fall into the pattern of checking your work emails and priorities the minute you roll out of bed, but it's important to implement a proper morning routine to avoid burning yourself out. 

The solution: Have a normal pre-work routine in place. For example, go about your normal routine as if you aren’t working from home - get up, have breakfast, enjoy your morning coffee, shower and get prepared for the day. Secondly, set up a dedicated office space that is purely for working and far away from distractions. Yes, by distractions, we’re referring to your bed. Even if your space doesn’t permit, NEVER opt for working from bed - these two spaces don’t mix well! 

It’s not often that we’re graced with the incredible opportunity to work from the comfort of our humble abode. While it certainly does present challenges of its own, it doesn’t have to be entirely gloomy. For instance - you now don’t have to do that 45-minute train commute to work...can I get a hallelujah? 

What do we mean by this? Well, in a time like right now where stress and uncertainty are running at an all-time high, it’s important to make the most of the small wins and to go the extra mile to take a little more care of our mental wellbeing right now. So, now that you’ve got an extra however-many-minutes freed up, why not use that to start your morning right? This could be anything from a bubble bath over a shower, a facial to kick your pampered self into gear, an extra long walk along the beach or an early morning surf followed by a restaurant-quality homemade breakfast (garnishes and all). There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, especially when you might need it most. 

Put your hand up if you’ve abused your Uber Eats account a little too much since working from home? Don’t worry, my hand is raised, too. While it might seem like the easy option, it’s important that you're nourishing your body with the goodness it truly needs to keep your immune system strong right now. 

Plus, what better way to cement a weekly routine than by sticking to your meal prep schedule. While some food supplies may be low, there are easy ways around this. Here are some great places to source healthy and time-efficient recipes:

• Jamie Oliver 

• BBC Good Food

• Eat Well 101

When you’re working externally from work, it’s easy to go hours without having any real human contact...and no, your cat doesn’t count. Without connection, whether it be with your peers or your friends, it can very quickly contribute to feelings of fatigue, lack of productivity and dissatisfaction (and not to mention, loneliness).

Make a note of staying connected to your team via phone calls and/or FaceTime. Trust us, it’ll help you feel a little more connected to the outside (aka real) world and will help you prioritise your mental wellbeing, too. A few awesome video conferencing/calling apps include:

• Facebook Messenger

• FaceTime (for iPhone-rs)

• House Party

• WhatsApp

• Skype

• Viber

We know you’ve likely heard the old saying “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”, but when working from home, there’s some serious truth behind it. While working from home presents the perfect opportunity to enjoy a new space and to work in your pyjamas, the con is that you don’t have the motivation or structure you would in an office space...which means you need to be your own inspiration. One of the most effective ways to keep motivation, and organisation, at an all-time high is to plan ahead and lay out a game plan for the day. Here are a few fantastic organisation apps that may help you get your affairs in order: 

• Todoist - A fantastic productivity app that allows you to plan out your day with one-off or recurring tasks, colour-coded priority levels, shared projects and productivity graphs that record your progress.

• Otter Voice Notes - Otter is a device-assisted voice note-taking app that automatically transcribes your work in almost real-time. You can easily edit the transcript to fix any errors and export it. Otter offers a free plan for up to 600 minutes of transcribed audio every month.  

• Trello - This app is a highly customisable digital bulletin board that allows you to create to-do lists, tasks, notes and so forth. You can share this with other users for transparency and collaboration. 

• Teamweek - This project and time-management tool allows you and your team to easily see who is working on what tasks, while also allowing you to quickly adjust schedules and priorities to adapt to changes quickly. You can create, assign and colour-code tasks on the calendar and you can also break down tasks into checklists and timelines.  

• Habit List -  It’s the perfect app for creating a morning routine that sticks and for not losing sight of your other priorities.   

With gyms closed nationwide and bootcamps greatly restricted,  it’s safe to say that getting our sweat on might look a bit different for the next little while. However, that doesn’t mean that we should use this as an excuse to binge-watch old classics on Disney+ and only move our arms when reaching for another cookie. It simply means that we need to be willing to adapt to a new style of training, even if it’s not an ideal set up. 

Here are a few simple tips to increase your workout intensity, without needing gym equipment: 

• Tricep dips - Use your lounge chair or a dining chair to perform tricep dips (trust me, you’ll feel the burn). Simply sit on the edge of the chair and hold onto the front of it, with your fingers wrapped around the front/bottom. Your feet should be placed in front of you, with the option of bending your legs to make it easier or straightening them for the harder alternative. Simply lower your elbows (aim for a 90-degree angle), and push back up. One rep complete!

• Push ups - While these can easily be performed on the ground with no other requirements, you can also spice them up if you’d like a bit of variety. To add a bit of flavour to your push ups, you can use a table, bed, sturdy chair or even a wall. To perform a tabletop push up, simply place your hands on the edge of the table with your legs straight and stretched out behind you. Just as you’d perform a standard push up, lower your body weight onto the table (ensuring your elbows are close to your body) and then push back up to your starting position. One down! 

• Wall sits - This is another fantastic (and equally challenging) exercise you can do from the comfort of your own home. Just as the name suggests, all you need is a clear wall. Simply lean with your back against the wall with your knees bent and your legs at a 90-degree angle. Hold this pose for a set amount of time, or to failure. You’ll feel the burn fast, there’s no doubt about that! 

• Russian twists - They say abs are made in the kitchen, so why not grab a weighted item from the fridge or cupboard and get twisting? Our go-to objects include a bag of flour, a full milk bottle, a large unopened can of food or a frozen bag of veggies (wrapped in a tea towel). To do this exercise, sit on the floor holding the object in your hands. Lean back slightly while ensuring your back is straight and your abs are switched on. Rotate your torso from side to side, aiming to touch the object to the floor. For the easier option, plant your feet on the ground. For the harder option, lift your feet slightly off the floor.

Who said you need a gym to make your sessions count? We know how much our ASN fit fam loves to get their sweat on, which is why we’ve designed a series of bodyweight exercises for you to do from the comfort of your home. While all exercises only require bodyweight, don’t be afraid to reach for those kitchen items (above) if you’d like to increase the intensity of your session. You don’t need any equipment or experience, just set aside 30 minutes to sweat your way through these three heart-pumping workouts:

• Upper body workout

• Lower body workout

• Full body workout 

When it comes to keeping ourselves fit, it’s not just about looking after our physical health, it’s about prioritising our mental health, too. Being forced into self-isolation can be an extremely daunting, overwhelming and anxious time for a lot of people, so it's important not to downplay the impact this can have on your mental health. Here are a few simple tips for managing COVID-19 anxiety and for prioritising your mental health:

• Avoid excessive exposure to media coverage

• Stay connected to those around you through calls, text, FaceTime etc. (where possible, video calling is most effective)

• Create a daily self-care routine

• Find activities to keep you busy - this could be anything from reading a book to picking up a new hobby. 

• Ask yourself what you can do this week to meet your mental health needs, and do it. 

• Take more breaks than usual and go easy on yourself