Do you work remote? Get a broom

One day I suddenly started feeling sick. My throat tightened, my nose ran, and my body burned. I thought it must be the flu. I took some time off from work. After a couple of days, I developed a cough, a cough that wouldn't stop. My kids were turning one, and my in-laws were here to visit. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity, I started wearing a mask.

Every morning, my coworkers would ping me on Slack to ask how I was doing. Then they'd ask, "When are you coming back to work?" "Not today!" was my answer. Little did I know, I wouldn't be back to the office at all. The world was plunging into a pandemic, and in hindsight, I may have been patient zero.

I quickly started feeling better, but that cough just wouldn't go away. I set up a workstation at home and became a remote worker to spare my coworkers the COVID-19 virus. We all did. Before the pandemic, when 6 PM hit, I'd close my laptop, wave everyone goodbye, and head home. I wouldn't touch the laptop again until the next day when I was back at my desk. Leaving the office was a signal that my workday was over. But how do you end your day when you no longer have to commute home?

At home, I barely noticed when 6 PM hit. In fact, I didn't even know when 9 AM hit. My day started whenever a child was up and was interrupted whenever a child needed attending. Lunchtime was whenever I didn't have a meeting. And the day ended... Well, it never truly ended. I often found myself typing while in bed and sleeping with my laptop still in my lap. Sometimes, I wouldn't remember when I stopped working. I'd wake up in the middle of the night figuring out an issue in the code, only to find that my wife had put the laptop away and tucked me in somehow.

I didn't work the whole time. I took constant breaks to attend to my family. I sometimes watched Cocomelon with my sons between meetings. My kids were frequent guests in the all-hands meetings. Who doesn't enjoy one-year-old twins animating Zoom calls? But it wasn't sustainable. It was taking a toll on me. I didn't have a balanced work life. I wanted to go back to the good old days before the pandemic, when I could stop working and justify not working because I wasn't at work. As weird as it sounds, I solved this by getting a broom.

It wasn't intentional at first. Around 6 PM, my workstation was always dirty. There were bottles on my desk, empty containers, and food crumbs all over the floor. So at 6 PM, I set a timer to start cleaning my station. I'd close my laptop, take the bottles to the kitchen, and wipe the desk clean. Then I'd grab a broom and sweep the floor, leaving it sparkling clean. Whenever I had to feed the kids again, I'd stay far away from my desk to make sure it remained clean until the next day.

This became a routine. Every day, at 6 PM, I'd repeat the cycle. Close the computer lid, wipe the desk, and sweep the floor. Every day, rinse and repeat. It became a habit.

After I had performed this ritual, I wouldn't get close to my desk again or touch my laptop again until the next day. I was done for the day. Working for a startup, I'd often get messages after hours, but those were ignored until the next day. The exceptions were if we had a night deploy, but I remained consistent. The broom appeared in the background of my calls. If you wanted to ask me anything, you'd have to do it before I picked up my broom.

The broom itself had no special powers. Instead, it was a signal, a way to transition from work to home when the commute no longer played this role. A lot of people had to find a way to adjust to this new way of life. The pandemic blurred the lines between work and our everyday lives. Despite companies pushing for a return to the office, we've already opened that window to our homes, and we know it works.

Today, I work remotely from my private office in a coworking space. Despite having a small commute, I keep the tradition of triggering that signal at 6 PM. If you happen to be passing by in the evening, you'll hear me vacuuming. Yes, I've upgraded from a broom to a small vacuum cleaner. They achieve the same goal.