Page 28 - Your Home and Mine April/May

Hello from your Associate Council:
I wanted to take a moment to touch base with all our awesome GLAA Members since we are all social distancing and it may be a couple more months before we get to enjoy an event together. I know that for a large majority of us, our schedules and routines have been completely flipped on their heads.
To help with this transition, especially the transition to a lot of us working from home or alone in our office; I wanted to share some tips and tricks that I have compiled from friends who have worked from home for years, personal observations and solutions from colleagues, to help stave off cabin fever and help all of us be more productive with these new routines. And, it must be said, a huge hats-off to all the parents juggling work and NTI with their school-aged children at home, you all are heroes to me!
Tips for Working from Home or Remotely:
STARTING YOUR DAY: Start your day like you would to go into the office, wake up early, put on fresh pajamas, have a cup of coffee on your porch, go for a run. Anything to start moving before your workday starts.
TO FOCUS: If you find yourself jumping from one focus to another, play music or a random show you’ve seen a million times in the background. Something to drown out other distractions.
TAKE A BREAK: Block out time to eat lunch, walk your dog halfway through the day. Something to walk away from work and shut the laptop so you are not sitting still in front of a screen for 8 hours straight.
HARD STOP: Set some boundaries and eat dinner like you normally would with your spouse and family. Have a hard-scheduled stopping point each day so you are not getting burnt out. Have a glass of wine.
KEEP MOVING: During breaks when you would normally walk to get coffee, or chat with a co-worker, get moving. Try walking when you are on the phone, do yoga for a few minutes, challenge yourself with a wall sit, stretch, chase your kids around. Anything you enjoy where you can get the blood flowing.
EXTRA ENERGY: We are such a fast-paced industry, we are used to being on the go. Take on some new home projects, clean out a closet, refinish an old piece of furniture, anything to help with pent-up energy. But don’t feel bad if you have so much going on mentally or physically with your families at home that your house doesn’t sparkle at the end of the day.
STAYING INFORMED: Finally, tune in to Andy at 5pm.
The important thing to remember is that we all want and need to be productive, but it is also important to practice some self-care.Another item important to note with our routine changes, is how technology is playing a part in how we communicate. Zoom, FaceTime, Microsoft Teams, are all fantastic resources to virtually meet with your teams. Keep in mind, not muting your mic when you’re not talking, is the new email reply all.One additional app that I have found fantastic for communication during this time is Marco Polo. It is a video-text-messaging app that allows you to emotionally feel more connected with your team, clients, vendors and association friends. I hope to see you all on there and be able to virtually visit with you.
Your Associates Council are all working very hard to get our networking events off the ground for the year. Stay tuned for updates on the schedules. We are still meeting monthly via Zoom to do everything we can to support our industry during this time. Please feel free to reach out to anyone from the Greater Lexington Apartment Association and the organization’s leadership if there is anything, we can do to support you through COVID-19.I look forward to seeing you all in person just as soon as we can.
Dannielle Wornall
Associates Council, Chair
Contractors Inc., Business Development Manager
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