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Following the sudden change last year of many people across the country working remotely from home, working from home has become the norm for many people and more companies have adopted this way to work full-time from home as permanent or part-time workplace/part-time home based.
Whilst working from home does have perks such as no commute and can work well as flexi-hours around family commitments, working from home can be challenging too. Distractions, less communication with others, lack of motivation and less accountability means that working from home alone can be stressful.
If you are working from home, here are a few working from home tips to help you be motivated, efficient and effective at your job whilst also ensuring you take care of your mental health.
To make sure that your work life does not creep into your personal life time, create and stick to a routine. Make sure you consistently stick to a work pattern and schedule deadlines to keep you on track.
Get up at the same time as you normally would and get ready to work to help you mentally prepare yourself for the day ahead with a ‘work’ mindset.
To help prevent the lines between work and personal life blurring, when your workday stops, stop working.
2.Create a work space
If you can, create a quiet space in the home for work. Even though it might be tempting to work from your sofa or bed, to avoid work time blending with your personal life and to be more successful it is best to work from a dedicated work space.
Having a work space with everything you need for work at hand will help you be efficient and will make you feel like you’re at an ‘office’ to boost a work mindset. As well as having a work set up to support productivity such as a calendar to keep you organised, make your work space a welcoming space with motivational prints and plants.
Not only does a dedicated work space help you be more productive and keep work life separate from your family life but it also be good for you physically too. Sitting on the sofa or bed hunched over a keyboard is bad for your posture and can cause bad issues. Having a desk with a comfortable chair helps you maintain good posture; task chairs are particularly good as they are ergonomically designed to provide optimum comfort and support to help you deal with the daily stresses office life imposes on the human body. Another popular option is a standing desk.
3.Set boundaries
Working from home can blur the line between work and personal life, which can negatively impact both work and home life. To keep things separate it is good to set up some boundaries.
Make sure to log off from work when your work day is done and don’t feel pressured to take on more because your ‘office’ is now in your home. Try to avoid work hours creeping into home life.
Working from home can mean that you end up distracted or pressured to deal with household chores.Try not to let household tasks seep into your work hours and stick to a routine. Having a dedicated work place in the home, especially one where you can shut the door to the rest of the house can mean you leave household chores when you start work.
Compared to when you are working in a conventional job setting such as an office, when working from home many people find that their friends and family call or visit unnecessarily and neglect to respect that you are indeed working. Whilst it is good to keep in touch, if calls or visits are impacting negatively on your work a polite ‘I’m working till 5 and can chat later’ or ‘I’ve got a deadline to meet at work, I’ll call you back soon’ can help.
4.Stay connected
Working from home may leave you feeling alone and isolated. Keeping a social connection is vital for mental health.Declining mental health can have an impact on your whole life including your ability to work.
Staying connected and having human interaction can boost mental wellbeing. Not only can staying connected with others help you but it can help others feel less isolated too. Supporting each other can positively affect mental wellbeing.
If you work in a team try to regularly check in with each so that you and your colleagues stay connected. As well as emailing and messaging, it is a good idea to do regular video calls. In addition to checking in about work, make time to socialise virtually with a digital coffee break for a social chat or organise a fun online get-together where you play a game such as a quiz.
You can also boost your mood by taking time to connect with friends and family. Other ways to try to stave off feeling lonely is to join in on social audio chats such as twitter spaces or clubhouse. They are a great way to bring noise into the house and get to know other people. If you find the silence of working from home alone deafening, listening to podcasts and audiobooks can help slice through the silence in the air.
5.Take breaks
Making time for breaks is vital for managing stress levels and mental wellbeing.
Taking regular breaks, especially screen breaks, can help you feel more focused and boost productivity. If you can, try to get some regular time outdoors as it is amazing for mental health and can help you feel refreshed.
Make the most of your old commute time and start the day in a positive way. Use the time you would normally spend getting to work to do something positive such as exercise, read a book, do yoga or enjoy a hobby such as painting.
Do you work from home?
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