Now that your new routine is starting to sink in, here are some methods to Get connected. Keep in mind that being connected does not necessarily mean having your eyes glued to a screen while surfing the web. We want to help you feel connected to your friends, housemates, family, colleagues, and most importantly yourself.

#2 Get connected

Stay connected with your team.

Fortunately, we are daily ultra-connected, in our personal life, but also at work! If working remotely is a great novelty for your company, and after a few days you feel uncomfortable with avalanches, (useless) emails, calls (which could have been emailed) and a WhatsApp group conversation that mixes urgent info and coronavirus memes… Halt!

Nowadays, many people work remotely, regardless of this Pandemic. It’s a new habit to take, but it doesn’t have to be so complicated! The benefits of communication cannot be overstated. Continuous coordination with your work team is essential to maintain a healthy work-life, but also vital for your own motivation. And if communication is essential, working at a distance makes it even more so.

To maximize efficiency, don’t be afraid to overcommunicate – keep your colleagues up to date with your Calendar, so that everyone can know your availability. This way they can easily book time with you in your Google Calendar.

Many platforms exist to run projects online, and to optimize team coordination.

Just to name a few:

• Slack
• Monday
• Trello
• House party (This option is valid only if you miss afterworks with your team)

Take only the positive from social media

It is hard to imagine what our lives would be like without them, and yet we know that there are also so many disadvantages to getting sucked into these platforms too much. Instead of mechanically scrolling through your Instagram feed, and watching the same posts, fake news, or people’s lives all day long; try to use only the best part of social media:

• To keep in touch with friends, family…
• Use the Cohabs App, to organize a remote event with other Cohabs houses (such as the great initiative of Cohabs Jourdan with their relaxation class!).
• Join or promote worthwhile causes, by helping vulnerable people during the epidemic, for example, or give donations to Non-Governmental Organizations. (The Cohabs Community, thanks to members, employees and investors, have already collected 5.800€ for those who can’t stay at home. L’ilot, located on the Parvis de Saint-Gilles in Brussels takes care of the homeless.)
• Take the opportunity to sort it out! Remove what no longer interests you, the old Facebook photos… in short, organize what you see with inspiring and motivating things! And whether it’s a nice Instagram feed with new people to follow, or Pinterest boards, to get lots of ideas!

Now get disconnected.

It’s very beneficial to be able to get off the phone for a while. Watching screens all the time is not good. You see when you’re having dinner with your roommates and you tell each other about your day, and you finally ignore the conversation without even realizing it, and you’ve already switched to answer an email or scroll through your Instagram feed (for the 50th time today?), it’s a good idea to be able to switch off the phone.

In addition to altering your relationships with others, your phone can also “ask too much” of you, especially during this period. Far from a digital detox, it would be good to review your habits and your relationship with your phone, which can be a behavioral addiction and cause stress, even without our realizing it.

How can you do this? Disable your notifications, sort through your smartphone applications, or practice digital breaks during the day. Easy.

Heads up for our next post on Boosting Culture! It’s going to be a fun one…