The seamless shift of working structure, from office to work from home, has come with a lot of challenges, especially for employees. Finding a proper work-life balance in the space; wherein you eat, sleep, binge watch, and relax can become complicated. All too frequently, you’ll begin to notice blur paths and find yourself torn between the two.
No matter in which industry you’re trying to set your foot, you’ll find yourself working more than planned or replying to emails at inappropriate hours. Doing this, everyone questions their inner selves only thing: How can I maintain a better work-life balance? How would I move further successfully in my career and, at the same time, spend time with family and close ones?
Here are the six ways to get yourself in a state of balance – work and healthy life when working from home.
1. Prepare a time-table for work:
When working at the office, once you step out of it, your work used to end their itself. But work from the home scenario is different. Here you aren’t traveling from one place to another; even you transfer from your desk to the couch, it is just a few footsteps away.
Though it sounds kiddish, you must set specific work hours to avoid overworking and help yourself in dealing with stress. Consider your lunch hours and mid-breaks to create a realistic schedule. Share the same with your colleagues and supervisors so that they can arrange meetings with you considering your time. It will also prevent receiving emails during non-work hours.
2. Give yourself some quality time post-work:
No matter how strict is your schedule, find yourself some time to get caught in a stress-buster task. It’s not at all tough to push a little work for tomorrow. Making a plan post-work can work well unless you’ve some vital job that needs your attention on the same day.
Whether it is catching up with friends or going out shopping, giving personal time to yourself leads to the well-being of your overall body. All of these, in turn, enhances your work-life balance, making you feel happy and positive.
3. Jot down your to-be achieve goals:
Planning your week as well as the day ahead gives you a clear picture of setting your preferences. For this, you must ask yourself a few questions. They are: What is your week’s priority in work – any specific deadlines? What are the must-haves and nice-to-haves projects? Once you get the answers to this question, you can set your plans for the entire week.
Remember one thing: Don’t rush and think realistically to lessen the chance of incompletion of work. Additionally, give your schedule some buffer time for last-minute work and meetings. Well, this was about work; when it comes to personal life, you don’t need to jot it down. Just take a moment and think about your pending work; if not, then do what makes you happy.
4. Create a comfortable workspace:
All the freelancers around the world must have experienced the not-so glamourous work-from-home scenario. Though in this case, you’re free to work from anywhere, you should create a designated workspace. Sitting on a bed with a cup of coffee and pressing the keypad won’t allow you to improve your work-life balance.
Whether or not you’ve got a dedicated room, DIY to create a comfortable workspace for yourself. In case you’ve chosen a kitchen table or sharing desk, then make sure you’ve enough space to keep your things.
5. Make yourself happy:
When we were too young, we used to think that doing a high-paid job and buying yourself a car and home makes a person happy. But that’s not true all the time. Prioritising our well-being is also an aspect to ponder. Conversely, if you enjoy every moment of your life, then there are high chances for you to become a dedicated employee, a best friend, daughter/son, parent, and so on.
To make it possible, you can implement some practical ways in your daily routine. They are spending time with yourself in the spa or binge-watching (as you can’t travel) or disconnecting with the outside world and relax.
6. Dress up for the work:
As you’re working from home, that doesn’t mean you need to be in pyjamas all the time. Switch from your nightdress to work clothes to help you get into the right state of mind. Well, this doesn’t mean you must go for a three-piece suit or put shoes underneath your feet. Simple work clothes are enough to make a mental shift.
Many people find the separation of home clothes with work ones beneficial. After winding up for the day, change your clothes like before, which ultimately means the end of your working hours.
How to stay active to pick the pace of your day?
Due to a shift of work from office to home, we all have lost traveling. This may mean that we can afford more time to spend on exercise. Though this theory is accurate, we can fall into routines of not prioritizing our health and lose boundaries between work and personal life.
Therefore, take out time to stay active by working out. In addition to this, add green tea to your daily menu (at least twice a day!). There are many types of tea available both in the form loose leaf tea and in tea bags. You can use whichever is comfortable to you.
All in all, enhancing your work-life balance isn’t that complex; merely follow the above ways and keep yourself motivated all the time.
