As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, many people continue to work from home. Although this should mean working normal hours and then shutting down the tech, for many people that takes on a different meaning. Work from home might mean taking on multiple roles and struggling to disconnect. In order to live a healthy life as you adapt to work from home in the pandemic, you must keep a few things in mind.
Evaluate Your Own Work-Life Balance
This is different for everyone. You need to decide what your current work-life balance is, and what the consequences will be if you do not have one. Having a work-life balance should provide you the opportunity to be a good leader, parent, or contributor. This means that it should be critical for you to operate efficiently without one.
Create a Home Office Space
If you are looking to get serious about defining your off time from work, then you also need to get serious about defining your work time. Make a workspace that is efficient for you, but one that is also yours. Whether that means moving a desk to a specific part of your home or even moving to work outside, you need to define your space.
What is great about working from home is that there is no HR or another governing body that defines what your workspace can look like. All you need to focus on is what makes you feel good, and allows you to work to the best of your abilities (preferably away from distractions).
Get Up and Move
Although you might not be able to get up whenever you want in an office workday when you work from home you can. Rather than sitting all day without any movement, it is important to add this into your routine. This does not mean you need to go for a run every day, but you can do some stretching or even air squats between meetings.
Set Boundaries
You should establish a clear start and end to your workday. Although it may be tempting to work into the night or add in a few extra hours, this is not fair to you. Eliminating your commute should give you extra time in the day, but for many, this has only added time actually doing work. By setting boundaries you can ensure that you are working a fair workday for yourself, and maintaining that work-life balance.
Take Breaks
Although remote work shouldn’t change the fact that you need breaks, it has created a culture of “go go go.” be sure to allow yourself breaks during the day just to stop and think. Take a walk or reflect on your day. This may even help you make better decisions overall.
Continue to Connect
When you go to work each day you have a connection with your co-workers. Being at home means you may only see your immediate circle or even just your family. Be sure to take time to see co-workers if it is safe, or at least give them a call. If it isn’t safe to see each other in person, then you can at least do so virtually.
