I am coming up on two months of working from home. My employer happens to be relatively tech-savvy and didn’t want to wait for the hammer to fall. A few days later after me, my wife started working from home. Soon thereafter, my son’s school shut down and he started online schooling.

We’ll Figure It Out

It’s definitely been interesting figuring things out between the three of us. On certain days, my wife and I might both have video calls. To provide some context, our Internet router is located in a small alcove (“office area”) off our stairs landing between the main and second floors. Due to my work, I’m on my work laptop for eight hours a day. Depending on the the wi-fi signal strength on the main floor, this affects how I connect to my work systems. While I prefer working in the office area where the signal is best, sometimes my wife will go there for a call, which means that I have to go to the main floor to work.

Over these two months, it’s taken a lot of trial-and-error figuring out how I now work. When I went into the office, I had three monitors, but really only used two. So, in the beginning of working from home, I worked with just the laptop screen. To flip between windows, I used the ALT+Tab keyboard shortcut to flip between open windows in Windows 10. Also, I love listening to educational and self-improvement YouTube videos. My son, occasionally, uses my personal laptop to access some of his educational sites for school. So if my son is on my personal computer, I watch the videos on my phone. With just this minimal setup, I use my laptop, laptop charger, ergonomic mouse, phone and phone charger.

While this setup worked for a bit, I realized that I needed to use my personal monitor so that some of the sites that I use for work would correctly render (not look cut off). In the office, I had a hub that would connect my laptop charging station, laptop, monitors and peripherals. However, at home, all that I have is my laptop, laptop charger, HDMI cable (Amazon Affiliate link) and monitor. I tried getting my own hub or something similar but then became overwhelmed with figuring out what I need. When I reached out to my Facebook connections, someone recommended that I mirror my laptop by running the HDMI cable between the monitor and laptop or extend the display. By extending the display, it’s like my laptop screen and monitor were combined into one ultrawide monitor (Amazon Affiliate link). Going from left to right, I scroll from my laptop screen to my monitor. While adjusting over a few days, I find that it’s really worked out for me.

Making It Work For You

Anybody that knows me well is aware of how much I love guitar music. Besides Jimi Hendrix (Amazon Affiliate link, one of the most unique and expressive guitarists in rock currently is Tom Morello (Amazon Affiliate link), who came to fame as Rage Against The Machine’s guitarist (Amazon Affiliate link). A long time ago, I read how he’s able to create sounds including DJ scratching (ex. “Bulls On Parade”-Amazon Affiliate link) and a climbing rollercoaster (beginning of Audioslave’s “Cochise”-Amazon Affiliate link) all with a few guitars, a 50 watt Marshall amp and few pedals. Where others would see limited equipment as an obstacle, Morello used these “limitations” to grow his creativity. In the way that Jimi Hendrix used his guitar to make bombs rain down during his “Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock (Amazon Affiliate link), Morello, similarly, is able to coax amazing sounds with just his hands, guitars, guitar pedals and his amps go get whatever sounds that his songs require. He made it work.

Working Lean and Mean

Returning to working from home, I realized quickly that many of my workdays involve constant adaption. I might only have my morning team video call, but my wife might have a late morning call and and early afternoon call, which would mean that she would need to use our office area. If I need to move downstairs, then I need to decide what I’ll bring. I don’t have most of the equipment that I used to have in the office. Through trial and error, I came to realize what I need to do my work, based on my circumstances.

I feel that our current circumstances can turn us into our own Tom Morello. If I have a job to do and less equipment, how do I get the job done? Before, when everything was handed to me, how do I find creative ways to utilize what is available? If I can’t have more hardware, then how could I leverage software that I haven’t used, but would now use out of necessity?

I can’t speak for you, but I am glad that I now really see how I don’t have a choice but to learn to do more with less. I think about the old proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Whether it’s getting my work completed or my writing done, I want to know how I can do more with whatever I might have available.

It is my hope that, by writing this piece, that I can get you to start thinking more like this. By looking at what is the least that you can really need, you can become more adaptable. If some extra equipment breaks down or is unavailable, you’ll already be prepared and barely inconvenienced. You’ll be able to keep moving forward.

IF SOMETHING DOESN’T GO YOUR WAY, YOU’LL BE READY.

Be sure to follow me at The Jose Rodriguez (Facebook), The Jose Rodriguez (Twitter) or The Jose Rodriguez (Instagram).

Also, if you know someone that would enjoy or benefit from reading this post or others, please share with them.