Pets, Productivity, and Working From Home

Getting a pet during the pandemic, combined with my job at Apartment List and its fully remote culture, improved my productivity!

During the pandemic, I’m sure many of us have thought of adopting (or actually adopted) a pet, myself included. 🙋‍♂️

I’ve lost count of the number of friends and family who’ve become pet parents in the past two years. I don’t even need to cite an article (cough) to tell you that in 2020, the number of adopted pets increased immensely. I am not trying to convince anyone to get a pet because of my experiences, because everyone works differently. But, enough about statistics. Let’s take a look at the pets and how they improved my productivity!

Before Apartment List

How was my productivity at home during peak-pandemic quarantine and before my new job at Apartment List? Rough.

The novelty of working from home until further notice did not last long. After the first few months, productivity took a nosedive, motivation was at an all-time low, and distractions were galore. Time management was nonexistent.

I’m sure this sounds familiar. 😅 It became so bad, I sought out therapy to address these issues to improve myself. The three strategies that came from this were to:

1. Reduce distractions during working hours
2. Improve time management
3. Find happiness and fulfillment

I tried locking my phone and putting it out of sight. That wasn’t realistic. I tried using the Pomodoro technique for time management. That was only marginally effective.

So, I worked to address the third strategy of finding happiness and fulfillment, which led me to seek out a new job.

Long story short, I landed at Apartment List as a Software Engineer!

Landing at the A-List Party!

Even after landing this great job as a software engineer at Apartment List, I was still having trouble separating work and life at home. My home is my office, but also my home? All of this would be fixed once we’re allowed to work in the office again, right?

While we all expected to get the all-clear to return to the San Francisco office in December 2020, it was announced that working from home would continue full time. This caused me again to consider my WFH productivity… again.

Virtual First

I longed for in-person interactions with coworkers and increased productivity in a physical office. But, as Apartment List officially became Virtual First and provided a ton of support in assisting with WFH challenges, the work-life balance became easier.

Virtual First was launched with Apartment List employees in mind. The goal of this transition was to build a stronger, more diverse workforce while enabling personal balance.

Apartment List continues to host internal seminars to this day to help balance work and life and emphasize the importance of self-care and mental health. This is also felt on the team level, as my coworkers have created a super understanding and truly empathetic culture. Stepping out for a 30-minute walk and taking time off to recharge isn’t just permitted, it’s encouraged.

I was generally happy with my daily life at Apartment List. And, I was productively doing fulfilling work with the occasional long day resulting from getting distracted. This seemed like something I could improve upon. No problem!

Okay, now back to my cat.

Gaining my Marbles

With the announcement of WFH becoming permanent at Apartment List, my motivation to get a pet increased. I started reaching out to Siberian cat breeders in January 2021. But, surprise surprise, everyone had the same idea with waitlists extending all the way into November. Through a stroke of luck, a breeder in Bakersfield, CA told me a momma cat had a double litter and that I could pick up my new kitten in early April!

Enter this little nugget 😍 who we named Marbles (as his eyes look like marbles). Plus, if I ever lost track of him, I can say “I’ve lost my Marbles!” 😂

Adapting to Pet Parenthood

Raising Marbles in a WFH environment introduced new productivity blockers. Marbles demanded playtime for hours a day, cutting into my productivity pattern. Heck, even while writing this blog post, I took a break to play with Marbles!

But, after a few months, I started feeling a change in how to prioritize my work while allocating my time. There was now a kitten who demanded my attention, altering my routine. Now I had to learn how to split time between work and training Marbles to stay out of trouble.

Fulfillment of Marbles and Me

I had to be efficient. So, I created preventative environments like putting a drying rack over the sink to make sure the places Marbles got into were clean and safe. I felt the impact of taking care of another living being – providing Marbles with an enriching life helped me find further fulfillment.

Upon telling coworkers and friends, they said I sounded like a new dad. I no longer worked past normal working hours. When Marbles’ playtime was satiated, I used that time to hunker down and get as much work done as possible, until he woke up from his nap at my feet, continuing the play/sleep cycle.

My manager likes to remind me of when Marbles would jump from the cat tree onto my desk, using my shoulder as a stepping stone during Zoom calls. 😆

Final Thoughts

I’m super grateful to have adopted a pet, as Marbles helped me improve many facets of my life, especially my productivity and time management.

Additionally, I am thankful to have the opportunity to work from home full-time for Apartment List, allowing Marbles to spend more time with me.

So, if you or anyone you know is considering getting a pet, I highly recommend a virtual first, fully remote work culture. Apartment List may be perfect for you. 😉

Also, please wish Marbles "Happy Birthday" on New Year's Eve, as it’s his first birthday! 😃