Member Voices

Like for many others, working from home is entirely new to me. It may be challenging to set boundaries and stay motivated. But here are five tips toward staying productive at home, courtesy of one of my mentors, Yair Crane:

1. Prepare your day. It means getting yourself both physically and mentally ready for work every day. Save the sweatpants for leisure time. Create a to-do list and stick to a schedule.
2. Get yourself a dedicated workspace. It is crucial to set boundaries between your work and private life for your mental well-being. It’ll be difficult to work out of a café or library, but try and make a space that is your own. 
3. Use video conferences when possible. Even if our work is mainly engineering, human interaction is still essential, both for productivity and for a healthy state of mind. Try and make these meetings social and more personable!
4. Take breaks. It’ll be easy to lose track of time, especially in an isolated environment.
5. Plan a virtual happy hour. Chatrooms were a big deal a few decades ago, why not bring them back? I’ve personally taken part in one, and it was great catching up with folks.

Working from home will be a new experience for many of us. I’ve listed a few tips from my end, but I’m sure there are many more. Stay healthy, everybody! If anyone does set up a virtual happy hour, I wouldn’t mind an invite.  :) 

Paul’s work at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power consists of planning and procuring large scale renewable energy projects to meet LA’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2045. Paul graduated from UCLA with his B.S. in 2015 and obtained his M.S. in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley with a focus on Energy and Climate in 2016. He’s currently obtaining is Masters in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is passionate about sustainable infrastructure and is involved with several initiatives with the American Society of Civil Engineers.