New Style Idea

Whether you're juggling your job duties and family ones (in the same space) or just working from home solo for the first time, it's going to be an adjustment. Trust me, I feel you. When I first starting working from home as a freelancer, I found time management to be one of the most challenging aspects to master, from the pressure from "just one more email" to the siren song of a nearby couch and TV.

However, in addition to my actual job (which I've done remotely for a while now), I've also appointed myself unofficial spokesperson for the Pomodoro Technique. Named after the creator's tomato-shaped timer, its premise is fairly simple: you block out 25-minute chunks of work time with four five-minute breaks in between each before a longer 15-minute break. I personally use it to set goals to write, edit, or research for 25 minutes straight (and repeat as needed), but it can be adjusted for many different professions (or even nonwork tasks like cleaning). And my favorite thing is that it just so happens to also be the perfect amount of time to let a face mask dry. Fancy that.

To be twice as productive, I use one of the five-minute breaks to apply a face mask, so when I sit down to work for my next 25-minute period, my skin is getting a special treat, too. Then, I use the following break to wash it off, and back to work I go. While a tomato sauce time-management tool by any other name would still smell as sweet, I use a free app to do this called Workflow Timer. It has the intervals all set up, but there's no reason you couldn't just set a regular timer in your home instead.

I juggle masks and work tasks once a week, but sometimes more, depending on what my skin needs. I pick ones meant to be left on for 20 minutes already (and work well for me that way), but you know your own skin better than anyone, so test it first.

Here are some of my favorite face masks to tackle different skin-care needs, all from Sephora. Happy masking - and multitasking.