Post-Covid work from home has become a norm. Although there are a lot of advantages to working from home there are a few problems which could occur if we don’t maintain discipline while working from home. We might get trapped with work vs home confusion, feel burned out due to multitasking office work and household work, work for longer hours without break leading to frustration and health problems, feel lonely due to lack of social contact, etc. This could affect the productivity of the work as well.
I have been working from home for the past 9 years, with my experience and with reference to a few research articles I have a few pointers that could help us overcome this problem and work effectively at home.
Start and End your day with a routine - start your day with exercise, meditation or prayer, have your breakfast, and then start your work at a designated time by logging down the to-do items of the day. At the end of the day close off your work completely and take your time to relax with family or do any activity that relaxes you. If you want to spend time on social media allocate some fixed time to it and then complete your day with some relaxing activity before sleep.
Set a time table or schedule for work - For example, if your work timing is 9 - 6, ensure that you start at 9 am and complete your tasks by 6 pm. There might be days where there could be some extended work however it could be once in a while and not on a regular basis. If you have to stretch your work timings on a daily basis, change your work schedule to suit the same and also ensure that it does not affect your work-life balance.
Schedule your mini and mega breaks - Make sure you take short breaks in addition to lunch and tea breaks for stretching out, drinking water and go to the bathroom. In sedentary work, it is required to take breaks in between say at least once in an hour. If you have a continuous meeting you can attend the meeting while standing or by taking a walk within the room, this could work if you don’t have to screen share.
Set a formal space specifically for work - Make sure that you sit in a chair and use a table for your laptop or computer. Don’t work sitting on your bed or sofa. The chair and table that you have to be designated should be only for work, you are not supposed to do any other activity at this work spot. On repeating this on a regular basis you would be able to differentiate work spot and home. This is to create the thought if you are out of the designated work spot you would be able to come out of your work mentally. This differentiation is essential for work-life balance when you work from home.
Interact virtually with your coworkers - Spend 10 - 15 minutes to just talk with your coworkers over general things other than work possibly over a voice call or video call. You can restrict it to one person per day or once in two days. This would avoid the monotony of work and help with social interaction which is very important for mental health.
Establish ground rules for work time at home - Setup specific ground rules with your family members who could be your parents, spouse or children on the work timings/ so that you are not disturbed during important work and meetings.
By following these tips and maintaining discipline at home we can make work from home more effective, productive and enjoy its benefits as well.
Very practical to follow