5 tips to separate work and home life when you work from home
Working from home came as a unexpected surprise for many of us during the pandemic and lockdown. Working from your home for the first time may have come as a welcome surprise even. For instance, the time you usually put in for your commute was suddenly shortened and became nonexistent, allowing you for more time to sleep, indulge in other things that you may not have had time for before. You are free to finally arrange your schedule as per your convenience and still have time for things.
What however comes as a shocker for many is your schedule again after a few weeks of work from home. Suddenly you find yourself with no distinction between your personal and professional life and they now seem one and the same. You also seem to be working more and your whole schedule is haphazard. What went wrong is what you wonder. If your situation is more or less the same right now and are wondering the best ways to fix it, this post is definitely for you:
1. Have a designated workspace at home:
First things first is getting yourself a designated space to work in your home This means a place devoid of any distractions and where you can take your work and do that in peace. Constantly changing places like you bed one day and the drawing room the next only makes you prone to distractions. Your work space ought to be a place where you can focus and aren’t interrupted. Where you are working shouldn’t be a place to eat meals, watch TV or do anything other than work. The discipline that you have in office is what you need to more or less recreate with your workspace at home as well.
2. Get a schedule going:
Having a fixed schedule is the best thing that you can do to ensure that you don’t overwork or even underwork for that matter. A step towards doing that is maintaining a daily task list or a to do list. This will help you keep in sync with your routine. Prioritize all your tasks as per relevance so you don’t end with additional burden and make sure that you follow the schedule as much as possible. Dedicated time always ensures that you are always focused on the task at hand and don’t deviate from them. Following the same thing in other aspects of your life is also bound to make your work life balance easier.
While working from home may not give you the same kind of access as a workplace, you can still try and make it better. Host Papa is offering Microsoft Office plans for as low as $4.99 a month. Grab yours today.
3. Take breaks:
Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to take breaks in between of your work. The human mind and body needs breaks the same way it does sustenance and sleep. Take the time out from your work and give yourself a break. You will find yourself rejuvenated and better at performing your daily tasks. When you have your downtime, indulge yourself to things that you like to do. It may be picking up a book to read, cook for yourself, play some games on your phone or simply take a coffee break. You can get creative about how you plan your breaks and use them.
If you are taking a break from work, also ensure that your workspace has the adequate work supplies. If you don’t, you can use the Staples website and get up to 15% off on all office supplies.
4. Indulge in physical activity:
Its quite easy to give way to monotony and just because you are working from home, one tends to get lenient. A good way to break this monotony is to indulge in physical activity. While you can’t go out to the gym, you can still however workout from the comfort of your home. There are many YouTube workouts by personal trainers, apps even that you can make use of and connect with likeminded virtually. You can even have a routine where you workout before you start the day at work. It could be as simple as cardio, weight training, meditation or brief light jogging. Whatever your preference may be, physical activity will ensure that you stay in the right spirits and stay healthy.5. Spend time with family and friends:
While the lockdown has us all cooped in but that doesn’t mean that you still can’t be doing things as a family or just have a good time with friends. While working is something that you do Mondays to Fridays, make some time for family as well. You can get together during the weekends and indulge in different activities. Cooking together, movie nights, gardening, group exercise sessions. You can take the time out to connect with friends even virtually and experiment with new things. Make the most of your weekends.
So, there we have some basic tips that can help everyone maintain that much needed work life balance while working from home. Remember to stay positive throughout, have a fixed schedule, take breaks and enjoy the time given as a blessing everyday.