When working from home is lonely, it is usually one hour of the day: after the last meeting, lunch at your desk, or around 3 p.m., when the apartment is still and the afternoon is tasks.

Give that hour a place you can reach, a start time, and an end time. Go when you are on your own, too. Before the hour ends, put the same block on next week's calendar.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. report feeling lonely. The figure comes from 2022 survey data covering 39 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The CDC describes loneliness as feeling alone or disconnected from others, including the feeling that you do not have meaningful or close relationships or a sense of belonging. A person with a lot of friends can still feel lonely. The same page says parks, libraries, public transportation, and programs support social connection.

Name the hour on Sunday

Open next week's calendar and find the hour that usually goes quiet. Block 60 or 90 minutes. Write the end time in the event title, such as "café, back by 11:30."

Choose a place you can reach in about 15 minutes from home. A longer trip is easy to cancel when a meeting runs late.

Text one person the day before. Put the place, the start, and the end in the message:

  • "I'll be at the café on my corner tomorrow from 10 to 11:30 with my laptop. Want to work there with me?"
  • "I'm walking the loop around the park at 12:15. It takes about 20 minutes. Want to come?"
  • "Want to eat lunch near us on Wednesday at 12:30? I need to be back at my desk by 1:15."

If they cannot make it, keep the block and go alone.

Work one block outside the apartment

Pick one public place and use it for a work block on two or three days this week. A neighborhood café works for most people. A public library is quieter, and you can sit there without buying anything.

Pack a charger, headphones, and one task you can do with people around. Sit where you can see the room. Order something you actually like, so coming back is easy.

Say hello to the person who takes your order. If you see the same person with a laptop on another day, say, "I work from here on Tuesdays," and go back to your work.

A coworking meetup is this block with other remote workers. Someone picks a time and a public spot. You bring a laptop, work beside people for an hour or two, and leave.

Coffee Crew handles Mondays. It matches you with 3–4 nearby remote workers. A group chat opens, you pick a coffee spot the group can reach, and you meet. The next week is a new group. Happy Hour does not repeat a Coffee Crew match for at least a month.

Walk a route you already know

A 20-minute walk fits the days you want to be outside. Use the same route each time, so you can leave without choosing a new path.

Two times fit a workday: just before lunch, or right after your last call. Put the walk on the calendar as a meeting so another task does not replace it.

The CDC's page on improving social connectedness suggests making time in your routine to contact others who care about you, and sharing something you already do, such as exercising, with someone else. Text the night before: "I'm leaving at 12:15 from my corner. Twenty minutes. Turn back whenever you need to get to a call."

Walk on your own if nobody can join.

Eat lunch where other people are

Take lunch away from your desk for 30 to 45 minutes. Use the same café, or a bench near it. Bring food from home if you want. Sit near other people, with the laptop closed.

If one person nearby also works from home, send the lunch text with an end time. Ask about something already in front of you: the food, the walk over, or the fact that you are both out on a Wednesday. Listen. If the talk feels easy, say the next plan before you stand up: "I'm here again next Wednesday at 12:30 if you want to do this again."

If you eat alone, stay for the time you set. A ten-minute stop is easy to skip the following week.

Use a library hour or a park class

Open the website for the public library nearest your home. Pick a branch you can reach at lunch or after your last call. Look for a class, a workshop, or a book group that meets more than once. Go twice before you decide if it fits.

Look up your city's parks department and see if it lists a weekday class or a walking group near you. Read the fee first. Some sessions cost money. Arrive a few minutes early and stand where people check in. A simple hello is "Is this the 5:30 session?"

Remote worker events are small plans of the same kind: coworking, coffee, a morning walk or run, and a game night. Join one close to home, or post a short one of your own.

What to say, and how to set the next time

The first hello can stay with what is already around you:

  • "I work from home, and I have been coming here on Tuesdays. Do you?"
  • "I just finished the loop. Do you walk this path on weekdays?"
  • "I head out at 11:30. If you want company next Tuesday, I will be at this table again."

Ask one question, then wait. If the talk is easy, say, "Same table next Tuesday, 10 to 11:30?" Keep the first meeting to about an hour, and leave when you said you would.

Before you head home, add the next visit to your calendar. Same weekday, same place, same length. If someone came with you, ask, "Same time next week?" Text them that night with the place and the end time.

Keep that plan for four weeks, so the same people see you more than once. If a week falls apart, move the hour and leave the plan as one place, one block, and one person to text.

When the people you would text live somewhere else

Some weeks everyone you would text lives in another city. The café, the library, and the walk still work on your own. Happy Hour, a free iOS app, can also show remote workers near your neighborhood. The map uses approximate locations. You can join a coworking session, a coffee, a morning walk, or a small game night, or put a short plan on the map yourself.

If you are in Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, the city page sketches neighborhoods where the plan can stay close to home. The Los Angeles guide goes further for one city: one side of town, one place you repeat, and an end time on the plan.