Here is a small way to feel better while you work at home.

Never enter a room without making it better before you leave.

I wander while I work at home. After an episode of work I may go upstairs or downstairs. I may poke my head into the garage or hover around the refrigerator. When I visit each room I do something before I exit to make it better. It could range from putting a glass in the sink or wiping a counter to throwing out the trash or organizing papers or engaging in an albeit brief positive interaction with Susan, my wife.

These are tiny actions but in this time of fear and isolation it gives me a small nudge of positive emotion and contribution each time I leave my desk and before I return to work.

I have extended this thinking to outside the house. When I enter a room full of people or visit with friends I determine how I can make it better for even just one person before I depart.

Acknowledgement, recognition, appreciation, listening, curiosity, laughter, conversation, and connection are powerful ways “to make a room better.”