We thought the start of a new year would be a great time for a quick refresher of good habits and practices for creatives working from home. At this stage most of our teams have been working from home for over 10 months, so we've compiled a shortlist of tips from our studios to help you get the best out of your work from home routine.

We hope you'll find our tips below helpful and as always please feel free to share your own with us too!

Make Sure to Stretch!

Are you finding yourself achey at the end of a work day? It's easy to lose track of time sitting in place at your home desk, which might currently look like working over the kitchen table or utilizing your bedroom as your office space temporarily. Whatever the case may be, it's important that you squeeze in some time for some much needed stretching. We've got a great visual guide, 'Essential Stretches for Animators', to help you get started!

Download and print here!

Make Time for Self-Care and Stress Relief

If anxiety is running high or if you're feeling stressed at the moment, you're not alone. Millions of people worldwide are doing their best to cope with national lockdowns, juggling their work, personal and/or parenting responsibilities, including our own teams here at Brown Bag Films. And let us tell you, it isn't easy! BUT there are some valuable activities, like meditation, yoga, and breathwork, that you can be doing throughout your day to help alleviate the stress and anxiety and ensure you prioritise your mental health.

Our Health and Wellbeing committees shared their top tips with us, in 'Our Health and Wellbeing Committees Guide to Stress Relief', which we hope you'll find useful! And if you're not doing so already, make sure to incorporate self-care into your daily routine.

Make Your Workspace Comfortable

Have you checked the ergonomics of your at home work space? It might be time to do a quick review and ensure you're as comfortable in your space as you can be.

Make sure your work space is as safe as possible, watch out for overloaded sockets and cables running across the floor. Try to avoid working on a bed or a couch. Find a flat surface with space that you can put your legs under if possible. Your seat ideally will have back support and be high enough for you to get your elbows level with your keyboard. You may have to get creative with the use of cushions and pillows to get high enough and get some back support. The effort you put into this piece WILL be worth it. Try to keep your feet on the floor or put them flat onto a small box. Keep an open window to let some fresh air into the room.

Check out the video below to help set up your desk ergonomically:

Stay Disciplined with Your Routine and Don't Forget to Take Breaks!

Routine is KEY. Create boundaries between your work space and your home space. Brighten up your work space with some creative flourishes – we find having sketchbooks or post-its, plants, toys and crafty bits and bobs nearby help fuel our creativity.

Schedule a lunch break – it can be tempting to just keep on working but this isn’t sustainable and coming back to your work with fresh eyes will help in the long run. Get outside for fresh air. A walk will do your mind and body good.

Have a clear end time to your working day – it’s tempting to dip in and out of work with the technology available to you at home but avoid this if you can. We find writing a list of what you need to do the next day is a good way to mark the end of your current working day.

There you have it! We'd love to hear your working from home tips too.