Are you a freelancer?
Or someone working from home due to the pandemic?
Whoever you are, you might be here because you want to stay productive and achieve work life balance when working from home.
Achieving work-life balance when working from home is a tricky thing and can make it more challenging. Some people deal with challenges in managing their time, distractions, social isolation, and so on. The lines between personal and professional life can be blurred.
Here are some tips for working from home and make your home office a healthy place to work.
1. Setup a desk
Having a desk as you would in the office will help create an official working environment and help separate home time from work time.
If you have a space in your home, choose a room to become your new office. You don’t need to have a fancy workstation. It’s just creating a separate workstation from your room is ideal. Try not to work from your bed because working from bed brings comfort and it decreases your productivity.
So pick a room, get your favorite books, clean your workspace and set up your desk..
Desk setup is a reflection of your personality from your passion and interest. According to Reader’s Digest, these are the 17 Things Your Desk Says About Your Personality.
Desk setups maximize your work from home productivity.
2. Take breaks
Why is it important to take a break?
Often at home we forget to take breaks, it’s important to step away from your desk and come back refreshed after a small break. Do something that is totally different from your work.
If your work from home job has to sit you down for a long time, give yourself a break. Go out, move your body, play with your kids or pets, grab a snack, make a coffee or get some fresh air outside. Do something you love. If you do these things, you would return refreshed and ready to work.
You still need to take breaks even when you are working from home. Taking breaks is essential for your productivity.
3. Keep in touch
Social interactions can be minimal when you’re working at home. Try to keep in touch with your colleagues when possible. It’s important to keep communications strong.
Get your devices and have some chit chat or video calls. Make an effort to check your friends and colleagues. Do not let working from home allow you to lose communication with your colleagues and achieve new professional developments.
Keep in touch and stay learning.
4. Keep your routine
Instead of rolling out of bed and logging into your computer, keep your routines as if you were going into the office. If possible, do not check your phone when you wake up in the morning. No one among us wants to start our day seeing difficult updates and work demands. This tends to stress you out.
Start your day right. You have an option to stay dressed, meditate in the morning, walk around, and play with your kids or pets. Go to the gym, have a shower, whatever you would normally do. Make sure you’re wide awake before you begin working.
These things will prevent you from starting out your day stressful.
After doing these things, you need to STOP working. Move away from your desk and spend time with your family. If you want to achieve positive changes and output, you need to work for it.