Working from home comes with both benefits and disadvantages equally. While the flexibility of choosing your working hours is one of the greatest benefits it also comes with a disadvantage – losing your routine.
The lack of routine can lead to many problems such as irregular eating, lack of physical activity, and even losing work productivity. For many people, working from home is a novelty that can heavily influence the quality of their life and work.
If you are still struggling to find a balance between working at home and living your life during the pandemic, check out these tips.
- Have a regular morning routine
Starting your day in the right way is always a good idea, regardless of whether you’re working from an office or your home. Having a good start to the day is what will dictate the rest of your day. Plus, both your mental and physical wellbeing will be intact.
This means that you should get up earlier to fully wake up, dress, do your morning exercises, and maybe have breakfast. Getting up and immediately sitting in front of your computer without changing out of your pyjamas is not the best idea.
With the right kind of morning routine, your day will be productive, organized and your mental and physical health won’t be affected in any way.
- Designate an office space
Working at home means working from anywhere – even your bed, right? Wrong!
You won’t be able to concentrate and focus if you decide to work from your bed, living room, or even kitchen. However, if you set up an office or workspace in one corner of your home or maybe designate a whole room as a workspace, the situation will be completely different.
This space should be used for work and work only, that way you’ll be able to concentrate and be productive without any distractions. Once again, you shouldn’t use this space for anything but work.
Make sure that the place where you decide to set your office up is bright and that it’s the place where you can concentrate the best.
- Make your workspace stylish and creative
To make this workspace even more productive and work-ready, make sure it’s stocked with all the equipment and stationery you’ll need for work. Apart from that, you can invest in some ergonomic furniture that will keep your back and neck in the right position. Sitting in a comfortable chair increases productivity and performance!
You can even go a step further and organize and decorate this space to make it more appealing, more office-like. Add décor details such as plants, inspirational wall art, some pops of colour, and so on.
Simply make sure that space you’ll be working from inspires productivity and creativity. This will make working from home much more enjoyable and productive.
- Have clearly defined working hours
The lack of real working hours can become a huge problem. You can easily get carried away when working at home as you don’t really have a clearly defined schedule nor working hours.
To avoid losing track of time and working until the wee hours of the night, make sure you define your working hours. You know exactly when you’re the most productive in the day so let that be the guide. Set your working hours and do your best to stick to them.
Don’t start work before your set hours and also don’t work overtime.
- Make a schedule
For some people having a schedule can be a life-saver. Having a clear plan of what needs to be done and when can help you out a lot. Plus, a schedule can keep you on track and it can help you be more organized both at work and in your private life – which, unfortunately, tend to blend when you start working from home.
Making a schedule is very easy these days. You can either download an app that will help you create a schedule or you can do it the good old way – with a pen and paper.
- Don’t forget to take breaks
Working from home doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take breaks. Just because you’re working from the confines of your home, it doesn’t mean that you’re no longer allowed to take breaks.
Breaks are highly important as they allow us to recharge, refocus, and boost our productivity. Additionally, breaks allow us to get up and stretch and eat.
Having lunch and snack breaks is crucial. Without these breaks, we’re risking our health. So, make sure you have all your breaks planned out and pencilled in your schedule.
Life is unpredictable and this situation that we find ourselves in is proof of it. Working from home, for many of us, wasn’t something we were planning on but it happened and now we have to make the most of it.
And the truth is that you can easily make the most of working from home. Yes, it will take some trial and error, but eventually, you’ll be able to see all the benefits of remote working.
Hopefully, some of these tips will come in handy, and working from home will become much more enjoyable.
About the Author
Jasmine Anderson is a Sydney based lifestyle blogger and a toddler mom, with a Fine Arts Bachelor’s degree. Expressing herself through different mediums is what keeps her spirit bright. She loves to spend quality time with her family, go thrifting, and spend just a little bit too much time on the internet.
twitter: https://twitter.com/AndersonJess_AJ
