Alumni
Grad Hana Brenner-Katz Challenges Students To Consider This Quarter a WFH Experience
Many college students across the country are about to experience their first-ever online classes. FIDM Graphic Design Grad Hana Brenner-Katz has been working from home since 2018 when she co-founded Cana Creative Agency, a full-service digital marketing agency that specializes in social media. With two years of experience mastering productivity at home, she challenges FIDM Students to consider this quarter as a WFH experience, and offers these tips to make the most of it.
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I have worked from home since 2018, and was homeschooled K-12, so I consider myself a WFH pro at this point. I would suggest you think of your classes as just that—a job you’re working from home. Ultimately, FIDM is part of your career path. The things you are learning now will mold your career. My career is no less “real” because I work from home, so take these classes just as seriously as you would in-person classes—just because you’re home doesn’t change their value or importance.
There are so many articles with WFH tips, and I read them all when I started. As a non-type-A human, a lot of these articles just made me feel bad about how I ended up spending my time.
Here are a few things I’ve found work for me, as a person with a creative brain:
1. Don’t wake up and check your email and start working immediately. If you do check your email, do it on your phone, and don’t open your laptop until you’ve given yourself a proper morning. Get up, eat breakfast, scroll Instagram, GO FOR A WALK, before getting on your computer and starting your day.
2. It can be hard to focus in silence. I need my TV on as background noise all day, but music and podcasts are also really helpful to me.
3. Getting dressed every day is super helpful to most people, and I do make myself shower and change every morning, but 99% of the time that just means changing into different clean sweats than the ones I slept in. Stop thinking you need to put on jeans and a blazer everyday.
4. Try not to work from bed, but don’t beat yourself up when it happens—because it will happen and you are allowed to secretly enjoy it.
5. Figure out what hours work best for you. I spent the first 28 years of my life trying to force myself to be a morning person and I am simply not and that's fine. I am most productive from like 12:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. It doesn’t always work when I am working with clients but I no longer stress about what time I think I “need” to wake up at.
6. If you're struggling to focus, change locations, even if that means moving to a chair next to your couch.
7. Most importantly don’t beat yourself up if you’re not doing things “right.” If you’re being productive, that’s all that matters—and I promise, it gets easier with time.
Keep up with Hana Brenner-Katz at hanabrennerkatz.com, canacreativeagency.com, and on Instagram @hanabk.
Categories: Graphic Design Alumni
