Focusing on resilience and how it can help you adapt

As part of our Brighton Resilience blog series,
alumna and Brand Identity Manager for BT’s Enterprise Division Tia Schwarz tells us how she is stepping up to home working and thriving in a challenging new environment:

Adjusting to working in a way that we’re not used to can be tricky. For me? I’m fortunate enough to be able to do my job from home.

The people I work with are the reason I get up in the morning. We’re a social team, we support each other. We chat, laugh, and have plenty of coffee breaks and also eat a tonne of biscuits. But most importantly we work hard, and we deliver. And when the ability to do all of this within a single day is taken away from you with the click of a finger, it can be overwhelming, and can take getting used to. But I’ve realised that it’s okay.

Our office has closed, I now have to find that quiet corner in the house to take conference calls and carry on business as usual. But with constant distractions at home, and a very excitable puppy – it’s notably harder to just sit down and crack on with work.

What to do? Establish a routine – every morning I wake up with a list of goals that I want to achieve that day. Not only does this give me a purpose – this also gives me a sense of accomplishment I was maybe missing before. Whether it’s starting my day with a healthy breakfast, or allowing myself half an hour every morning to do yoga – it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Maintaining a positive mindset throughout all of this couldn’t be more important. And then at the end of the day? I reflect. And I plan on how I’m going to make tomorrow an even better day than today.

So don’t let a new environment stop you from thriving. I haven’t.

Tia graduated from BSc Business in 2017.