Working from home – why do some people succeed and thrive and others struggle ?
The Need for Clarity
With recent events and communications our first podcast in the How-to-series is very relevant Planning vs Planning right – The need for Clarity
This blog explains why there is the need for a How-to-Series
Netflix, the cheesecake, the dog vs the weekly report
The choice is yours!
Millions of people have been thrown in to working from home ‘’It’s like you join the army, then on day three you’re told you’re going to be parachute-jumping at lunchtime, and you’re given a parachute and thrown out of the plane. No training, no preparation’’. said Nicholas Bloom Economics Professor at Stamford University in an interview with Rani Mola for vox.com
It is a shock to the system.
Overnight
Gone overnight are our routines from our daily commute to our ways of working that become a habit, gone are our opportunities to swing around in our chair and speak with a colleague, gone is the office banter, now we have distractions and challenges, none of which we have ever been trained for.
Declining productivity
Nicholas goes on to say, ’Productivity will also be down dramatically. As a personal example, I have four kids and they’re at home, and I’m struggling to get anything done. And it’s not just that, it’s also that motivation and creativity come from being around other people. So, I find it hard to be creative and, honestly, find it hard to self-motivate myself if I’m stuck in, you know, one room at home day in and day out’’.
This is not uncommon; many people feel they are less productive working from home compared to in the office. There are plenty of other distractions, whether it’s the Netflix series we are into, the dog or kids, household chores or half-eaten cheesecake in the fridge. We still need tactics and strategies in place to help us work effectively.
Respondents to a 2017 Regus survey reported that working from home left them lonely, lacking interaction with other professionals, raiding the fridge and irritated by noisy family members.
In a news article of People Management, reported that a more recent poll (March/April 2020) of workers, conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) over the last two weeks, found 50 per cent of respondents were not happy with their current work-life balance, with 48 per cent putting in longer and more irregular hours thaw n they would under normal circumstances.
We know what we need to do, it’s the how to we want to know
We have seen a lot of articles on what you need to do to be successful at home e.g. have a plan, have a routine, take breaks, prioritise etc, but we have not seen anything that shows ‘how to.
Hence we have created a new collaboration to help the millions of people in the UK in both commercial and not for profit organisations and beyond.
The Coach and The Collaborator will be providing for a limited time a series of 90 second nuggets in a brand-new How-to series
The coach, Anthony Francis, and the Collaborator Javed Thomas both previously worked on the award-winning Tesco/Diabetes UK partnership raising a record £18m in 18 months. Anthony has also delivered multi million pound projects for blue chips like British Airways and Orange, whilst Javed who has run projects for 5 Lord Mayors of London and the creator of the Green Ribbon mental health Campaigns and City Giving Day, engaging 800+ companies and nearly 2million employees
Working with amazing teams, we have seen why some people succeed and others who have struggled.
This also reflects in why some people thrive when working from home and others struggle.
Available Now !

The How-to series will be available in audio format on castbox and through video on YouTube.
In addition there will soon be a series of webinars available to those who join as members, which will include expert special guests including Dr Stephen Fletcher (Occupational Psychologist) who is carrying out a study on the impact of working from home due to Covid-19.
The format of the How-to series will include
1. Sharing a real-life challenge (e.g. having a long to do list and never completing it) why person A manages to lose weight but person B does not reality of working from home with pets, children, and family disturbances,)
2. why we struggle and
3. tips how to address it
Just some of the topics covered
1. How to nail your to do list
2. The power and need of having a routine
3. How to get planning your day right vs getting it wrong
4. A formula to help prioritise
5. & many more
For more from the How to series *Register now for ‘free’ to
- be the first to receive future podcasts
- have exclusive invites to the webinars
- access to a toolkit of resources for working productively
- exclusive discount to Think it Plan it Do it now book
*this is for a limited time only
For updates to further content and free Support
To access webinars, podcasts & You Tube videos