Big thanks to Andre Mann for letting us share his thoughts and helpful tips on working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

— by Andre Mann

As the Bay Area wakes up to life under lockdown, and companies across the country are encouraging people to work from home encouraging “social distancing,” my thoughts flash back to lessons I learned from running a business under lockdown a decade ago.  My family and I lived in Afghanistan where I helped run a media company with a Department of Defense contract, and a travel and logistics company. We lived in a shared compound of our home and the office, so we effectively “worked from home.” Kabul, being Kabul a decade ago, was a place where lockdowns were not uncommon, and where the threat of violence kept us evaluating every trip outside against the risk of an attack.  The situation was completely different from the coronavirus, yet there is so much that makes me flash back to those days. The threat was invisible, just like a virus, and every measure taken seemed like an overreaction. And yet it was all necessary. Here are some lessons we learned in running a business (and family), and staying healthy under lockdown.

1. Don’t let fear overpower you.  The only way to truly overcome fear is to turn to God, and commit our will to trust in Him.  God is sovereign. The only reason we can take our very next breath is because God sustains us—he is in control of everything.  And we can trust Him. He is a good God. He loves us. He will never abandon us. He does not want us to live in fear.

2. Seek to serve the more vulnerable.  How can I love my neighbors well?  Is there an elderly person who needs groceries ordered online and doesn’t know how to?  Keep your 6-foot distance, but help them out with that. How else can you help? Just reaching out and asking can be a significant gesture.

3. How can we give generously?  From figuring out how to support small businesses with online orders, to giving to non-profits who depend on donations, to supporting your church, don’t allow fear to paralyze your giving.  If you have funds in a donor-advised fund, now may be the time to deploy those funds to make up the funding gap so many non-profits are experiencing.

4. Practical tips for everyday living under lockdown:

   1. It’s important for everyone to have a routine.  When working from home, with young kids, spouses, and pets all in one space, before you know it, every day begins to feel like a Saturday.  That may sound like fun for the kids on Day 1. But by Day 7 everyone will be bored out of their wits and the working parent is about to blow their top at the chaos at home.  

   2. Get up early, like you did when you went away to work.  Get the kids up early like they were going to school, and have them keep a schedule of learning.  This will require some planning.

   3. Get dressed.  This will signal to yourself, and everyone else in your household that you are ready to work.  Don't work in your pajamas.

   4. Define spaces and time schedules.  Especially with young children, it can be difficult to understand why mom or dad are not available to play.  However, you can help signal to them what is work time and what is play time by working from a specific spot, and keeping work to specific parts of the day.  And then protect your family time by not allowing work to bleed into the evening. Set limits for yourself. Keep your family time your family time, and work time your work time.

   5. Taking a Sabbath is important even when you are working from home.  Let the weekend be different than the work week.  On the weekend, break up the routine. Sleep in. Fix a meal together, take a nap.  

   6. Get some exercise.  Becoming sedentary will become the easiest thing to do when you are living in lockdown.  You will need to be creative if you don’t have a lot of gym equipment at home. Lots of gyms are taking their classes online to help people stay fit.  In some cases, you can still go for a run as long as you stay away from others. Don’t let this slide.

   7. Double down on time with the Lord.  You will need to nurture your soul, even more during uncertain times.  Be protective of your prayer life. Rather than having just one “quiet time”, why not also add a family devotional at a different point in the day?

   8. Social distancing does not equal relational distancing.  Pick up the phone and reach out to friends and relatives.  Stay connected. Use Skype or FaceTime so you can see each other.

   9. Remember that this will pass.  Trust in the Lord.  We don’t know what things will look like on the other end of this, but no matter what happens, the Lord will not abandon us.    

If you’d like more advice on dealing with isolation and/or a lockdown from a mother’s perspective, Andre’s wife wrote a helpful article on their personal blog here.

For more information on COVID-19, please see our page highlighting some of the best resources out there for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs in this season.

——

[Thanks to Daria Nepriakhina for the cover photo]