Working from home has some major perks. You can carry out your daily assignments from your favorite sofa, wear your comfiest clothes (hello, sweatpants) and save a ton of time that you would otherwise spend commuting. In general, working from home offers more flexibility and a much more relaxing, stress-free environment.
It’s common to have difficulty separating your job from your home life. But, how can you maintain a healthy work-life balance if your laptop sits on your kitchen table and you have unlimited access to your work resources at all times?
Fortunately, a few simple tricks can help draw the line so you can enjoy both productive work flow and relaxing time off in the place you call home. Here’s how you can achieve work-life balance when working from home:
Create a dedicated workspace
To ensure a productive work environment, set up shop in a part of your home that is private, silent and separate from where you tackle your home chores. Ideally, you should be able to close the door and lock out any other noise in your home. But, even if your home office is not in an entirely separate room, you can still enjoy some peace and quiet if you set it up in a place that is less-frequented by other family members. Then, stock your home office with the equipment you use during work hours and, whatever you do and however tempting it may be, don’t ever work from your bed.
Establish a clear schedule
Establish a clear schedule depending on your workload. Create realistic goals that can be completed in the amount of time you have available. Strive to work the same hours every day as often as possible, which will help keep order in your life. Also, avoid working overtime at all costs. If you haven’t managed to tick off all parts of your to-do list, you can always do them the next day. Don’t sacrifice your valuable off-time just because you have your laptop at hand.
Set up a morning routine
Routines can help maintain a good balance, regardless of the situation. Daily habits — like enjoying a slow, healthy breakfast; journaling; thinking over your to-do list; or doing some introspection about the previous day — can help you kickstart your workday with a positive attitude and contribute to a better workflow. Plus, now that you don’t have to run out the door to catch the train or bus, you can finally enjoy a morning routine that will benefit your entire day.
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Enjoy your lunch break
If the tasks you need to tackle on a daily basis are abundant, it’s easy to fall into the trap of eating your lunch by your laptop and working through your break. We’ve all been there. But, that is not exactly the healthiest and best way to proceed. Even if you don’t have an entire hour at your disposal for a lunch break, try to step away for 10 to 15 minutes to truly enjoy your lunch break. Set up boundaries with your workplace and make sure you enjoy your meal undisturbed — at least for a few moments.
Log off when the workday is done
With our constant connectivity, many of us struggle with logging off when the workday is done. It may be tempting to check emails and chat with coworkers about the challenges of the day long after your work hours have passed. But, avoid this as much as possible when working from home.
Avoid multi-tasking
Because multitasking can affect your attention to detail — and, therefore, increase your likelihood to make mistakes — refrain from doing too many things at once. For example, separate your work hours from your free time and don’t cook while managing assignments on your laptop. Otherwise, it’s highly likely that both activities will suffer. Instead, set up boundaries for both work and home to help put things into perspective. Then, practice respecting these boundaries at all times to establish a work-life balance that best serves you.
