Working from home has become the new normal for many businesses, but the adjustment to remote working can take its toll, especially when you don’t take care of yourself. Alongside the obvious perks of remote working, you can become stressed, isolated, and struggle to separate work from pleasure. Throughout this article, we’ll tell you how to take care of yourself and avoid hitting a brick wall when working from home.
Table of Contents
Dedicated Office Space
If you’re having to set up and tear down your office space daily, you’re adding unnecessary steps to your routine, and you’ll feel in the way. For example, if you’re just throwing your laptop on the end of the kitchen worktop, you’ll likely be in a high-traffic location where you’ll be distracted. Therefore, setting up a dedicated office area will help you slip into work mode easily.
A Change of Scenery
We tell you to have a dedicated office space, but sometimes the same four walls can beat us down. Therefore, you should aim to have a change of scenery once in a while. Go to your favorite coffee shop or park with your laptop for an hour or so. Alternatively, if you’ve got a mini Thinkcentre M Series, you can set yourself up at the local library.
Keep a Routine
When you have to leave the house to work at the office, you get into the routine of waking up, getting dressed, and commuting. We recommend keeping a similar routine. Wake up when you usually would and follow the same schedule. When you’d normally commute, you can squeeze in a light workout or meditation session. Keeping to the same routine helps you separate the lines between your personal life and work.
Set Boundaries
If you live with other house members, you need to set boundaries for when you’re at work. We suggest sitting down with your family and involving them in creating your work schedule and making sure they understand when you need to be left in peace. Similarly, allocate time in the week for spending time with your family and logging off all work communication.
Keep Connected
Remote working can make us feel isolated, so it’s important to keep in touch with colleagues. If you usually send an email, enter a video conference for some much-needed human interaction. Your colleagues are likely feeling the same way, so you can schedule time for a digital coffee break – socializing is still important when working remotely.
Take Regular Breaks
According to a study by Microsoft, the human attention span sits at around eight seconds, which is wild considering we spend so much time working between breaks. With this in mind, you should treat yourself to a short break every 10 minutes or so. This can include stretching your legs and walking up the garden, making a coffee, or any other short activity.
Working from home can be great for work-life balance, but you need to act carefully not to blur the lines. Following the steps above will help you to stay grounded, which will improve your overall mental health.
