Pandemic Productivity

We’re all struggling to cope in our own ways right now. My way of coping, which I share here, may not necessarily be the best way for you. There’s also a good chance that what works best will change over time.This is why it is important for all of us to regularly check the multitude of supports that are available to us from the University and ENGWellness – many of which are detailed on the Engineering Wellness webpage and in the self registration “ENGWellness” course on LEARN.

There are some positives about working (or learning) from home… like being able to wear PJs to “class” (or work) and being able to literally roll out of bed (or maybe not) to be where we need to be. Of course, a lot of things about this whole *waves hands about* situation suck. It’s very isolating and requires a strong work ethic. But, we’re in Waterloo Engineering and can handle this… and when (not if) we can’t, we need to ask for help.

For me, routine is critical. I get up and go to sleep about the same time every day (although I let myself sleep in up to an hour on weekends). I have a weekend routine, too, that starts with a mug of my favourite tea (saved just for weekends) as a relaxing start to a weekend day (meditation is still a ‘work-in-progress’ for me but mindfulness with tea or with music I can do!). I also no longer allow myself to do any school-work on the weekend. I periodically tried that… it never worked. I ended up losing more productivity the next week than I gained on the weekend. On a weekday, I follow a particular schedule for caffeinating, eating and getting to work. Importantly, I work in a “work” area that is separate from everything else (to tell my body/mind that “it’s time to work”). My routine was highly influenced by the YouTube Video “Lockdown Productivity: Spaceship You” by CGP Grey.

My current pandemic routine includes starting work around 8:30am. This is relatively late for me since I am a morning person (and had, on occasion, been known to show up at the office before 7am). I work until lunch and then go for a lunch walk (usually with Charlee, pictured right as a puppy). The walk doesn’t always happen, and it tends to be shorter on crappy weather days, but I try. Trial and error has conclusively shown me that I am super grumpy later in the day if I don’t exercise. After the lunch walk, I eat and get back to work until around 5pm. I used to be able to work longer days in “the before times” but with the pandemic, I’ve found 7-8 hours is my limit – I need lots of recharge (wellness) time in the evening to unwind before sleep and perform well the next day.

So, with limited working hours, I have focused on maximizing my productivity. I credit my current productivity to five main things: Pomodoros, an awesome working support group, the UW Writing and Communication Centre, avoiding news, and flexibility.

#1 Pomodoros

If you haven’t heard of it, the Pomodoro Technique is a productivity technique with focused working periods (separated with regular breaks) and task completion tracking. For me, Pomodoros work well but I struggle to stick to the “rules” by myself… which is where my working support group comes in (see Working Support Group).

#2 Working Support Group

Early on, I put out the word that I was interested in forming a working group that follows a pomodoro schedule; it turned out quite a few people at UW shared my interest! Our group has settled into a routine (did I mention routine is important for me?). Essentially, the group collectively works for 30 minutes then takes a break together. During breaks we share our goals and progress, celebrate completion milestones, commiserate when things aren’t going quite as smoothly as we’d hoped, and generally support each other. The group, now officially the #WaterlooWrites Writing Online Waterloo (WOW) Group (all UW grad students, faculty and staff are welcome!), has increased membership and session frequency. Group meetings run every weekday morning, afternoon and evening. People attend as their schedules permit. Some of these people I have never met, but I feel are now my friends because of everything we’ve shared and gone through together in the last year. We are working alone… but also together.

#3 Writing and Communication Centre

I didn’t know about the Writing and Communication Centre when I was an undergrad and I wish I had! I love the weekly Virtual Writing Cafés they host for grad students and faulty (there are different sessions for undergrad students). Anyone can join and work along. I also regularly (a.k.a. every week) use the free (well, included in tuition which isn’t exactly free… but it doesn’t cost anything extra) virtual one-on-one appointments. These help me sort out my thoughts on a topic, figure out the best plan of attack for a project/paper, clarify my writing to convey my meaning, and (most importantly) stay on track for my goals. The “Writing and Multimodal Communication Specialist” whom I work with is great at all those things (my writing has improved drastically over the last year). And, when I’m struggling to achieve a goal or finish a task, we talk about what’s holding me back and work together to figure out how to fix that. Sometimes the obstacles are pandemic related and can’t necessarily be resolved but can often be improved… and I know I am not alone. No one has to be alone unless they choose to be. On that note, UW Counselling and ENGWellness offer many services for building the skills we now need for coping with the current situation … and in general.

#4 Avoiding the News

I avoid the news as much as possible. It is far too easy to get sucked into the news that’s both time consuming and generally depressing right now. It’s impossible to tune out the news entirely, but there are ways to avoid it. I listen to a music app when going from point A to B (for essential trips only of course) rather than the radio which has news updates. While my family regularly listens to the news radio channel in the kitchen, I turn it off when I’m in there. I limit myself to one newspaper article each day (and try to pick one not related to the pandemic). The news will filter in though – I remember on January 6th (storming of the US Capitol) I was in a Virtual Writing Café (see Writing and Communication Centre), and everyone was expressing feelings of stress, sadness, anger and confusion. I had to look up the news because it sounded like the world was ending. That day, and several others, I have had to be forgiving of myself (see Flexibility) because we are living history right now, and sometimes we need to know what’s going on around us… even if it does impact our productivity.

#5 Flexibility

I have also had to learn how to be flexible and accept my limits. I tend to be a perfectionist and expect myself to always be at my best – this isn’t possible in the best of times (and these are not the best of times). I am slowly learning to accept that I have good days and bad days. Mondays suck (more than they used to) and, apparently, I struggle to stay focused on rainy days… I’m slowly coming to accept that this is my new normal (at least for now) and I try to adapt accordingly. Sometimes one task just isn’t going to happen, so I have to switch to another. Sometimes I just need an extra break. It happens – now I just need to accept it and move on…

I welcome you to try new things to determine what works for you, see what options might be out there (such as the Warrior Virtual Study Hall), or maybe ask your classmates if they want to form a study group of some kind. When I was in undergrad, I had a study group that would congregate in the same area and work on assignments in the same place. They were the people I asked, “How does one ‘integrate by parts’ again??” We can’t congregate in the same area now (or at least not very many of us), but we can connect online. Maybe it makes sense for you to set up afternoon gatherings where classmates can work on assignments at the same time, complain about how tough life or this assignment or that exam is/was, and generally get together like you would normally? Maybe you set up study gatherings by time zone? I don’t know what the answer is, but I encourage you to experiment and discover what works for you!

On behalf of the ENGWellness Team, thanks for checking out this post! Please connect with us if you have anything that you would like to see in the future: ENGWellness@uwaterloo.ca.