Day #6 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Breaking the monotony of work
It rained so heavily this afternoon, it’s my favorite type of weather when I am indoors all day. There was work on my desk and food on the table, life seems good to be home in rainy weather. This is the second week of working from home without seeing my colleagues except for communications on Telegram and Slack. I am lucky to have housemates who did not return to their hometown so I do not feel that lonely. Work could be boring sometimes even if it is your passion. Grinding through cold emails, researching for credible information for content you are writing, getting rejected by clients over and over again, etc.. All these work activities are important but they drained us if we work on them for days or weeks and there is not enough positive outcome that keeps us motivated.
Breaking the monotony of work
Some days ago I wrote my first article on Medium about 5 ways to work better as an employee. Inspired by the book It Doesn’t Have To Be Crazy At Work, one of the points is about changing things up at work. We at the Foundingbird are working a 3-week cycle, similar to the 6-week cycle of Basecamp, where we take 1 week to do planning for mini projects to do for the next 3 weeks. Even though it sounds suitable for product development where there are features and functions, it works well so far for marketing as well since we have just started client acquisition a few months ago and we could use some brainstorming in driving relevant traffic and making the onboarding process smoother. This 3-week cycle allows me to introduce different mini projects for each cycle like revamping the landing page while maintaining other regular marketing tasks such as data analysis and outreaching. It does not only makes us feel the progress at work despite the mundane regular tasks, but it also stimulates our mind to think of ways in improving our processes so that we can achieve our targets better.
I agree that it seems like only those who are privileged can try out different things in breaking the monotony of their work (for example, a cashier at a fast-food chain must follow the SOP at work). If you are unable to spice things up at work, you may need to change up some activities outside of work. Read a good book, cook yourself your favorite meal, or watch a nice movie after work can neutralize the tiredness and boredom built up at work. As we are all staying home now, this is especially important when it is expected that the Movement Control Order may be extended beyond 2 weeks.
So, what did I do today?
Today was a totally normal workday. The social media distancing has worked wonderfully and I have had good night sleep for 2 consecutive nights even though I have watched a zombie movie with the title Rampant on iflix yesterday. I actually felt slightly worried today that I would not be able to churn out content since boredom has started creeping up on me. It turned out that it was because I was focusing on my work for a day without letting my mind wander and look for inspiration on what to write, hahaha. False alarm, people. It is all good. I can do it!
COVID-19 cases in Malaysia as of 23rd March 2020–1518
There were 212 new cases of COVID-19 in Malaysia as of today, bringing the total number of cases to 1518. The government has announced some strategies in helping people coping with the financial situation. It will be really difficult for those who are earning daily wages to survive if the Movement Control Order gets extended. I am really grateful that I am currently working in the tech industry.
This is part of the supposedly 14-day writing challenge during the first phase of the Malaysian Movement Control Order.
- Day #1 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — We are all in this together
- Day #2 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — One of those unproductive days
- Day #3 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — TGIF
- Day #4 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — It’s time for some social media distancing
- Day #5 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Living slow
- Day #6 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Breaking the monotony of work
- Day #7 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Running out of spoons
- Day #8 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Slow to speak when angry
- Day #9 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — Why are esports considered sports?
- Day #10 of Malaysia’s Movement Control Order over COVID-19 — How to communicate better with colleagues
However, I only managed to grind through 10 days and felt too exhausted to continue churning out articles day after day. But I will keep on writing articles whenever I can.
