Top Tips: Working From Home
1) Set a routine and schedule
If you don’t try to stick to a steady routine, you’ll find you won’t be getting in your normal sleeping hours, you may start to feel a little messy and this is when things can become stressful.
Set a routine of bedtime, time to wakeup and then try to split your work day in little segments. Your morning tasks, breaks and afternoon tasks, also be sure to include a daily walk in that schedule too. Getting outside for fresh air is super important. By having this schedule, it will help you stay familiarised with a ‘normal’ office work day.
Sometime’s we don’t really know the barriers when working in our own homes and we can often slip into working past your work hours. But you need to seperate work from home as much as possible and ensure you get up from your desk or table at that dedicated end of day time and close down your laptop or computer and leave it be.
Maybe you could start your evening off by doing a hobby or exercise, this way it is an indicator that you’ve now started your own time activities and tasks, and are no longer in a working mindset. It really is all about creating that barrier between work life and home life whilst it being in the same space.
2) Create a dedicated workspace
We know this isn't always possible, but trying as much as possible to only dedicate one area in your home to working will be extremely beneficial to you. This will be an area or space that will not be used in any other time in your day, other than working. So the sofa may not be the best option for you if that means you will no switch off in your evening.Set your dining table up with your laptop, or find a corner in a room to put a desk. Having this space will most likely increase productivity during your working hours too as you will feel more settled and in routine.
Keep away from distractions such as the TV, or even the kitchen cupboards if you keep snacking. It’s all about being strict with ourselves to imagine we are in our working office environment with our team. (although sometime’s more snacking occurs there!)
You can also make it your own and add your personality into it. Add some plants, some prints, some fun accessories and brighten that work space to get your creative juices flowing.
3) Stay connected with colleagues
It is so easy to become disconnected with at the moment, but keeping connected with your team really is going to boost your mental wellbeing and theirs!Working from home really does have benefits, but you may start feeling isolated. Have video calls, instead of all having your camera’s off. Have weekly team wide activity meetings, including quizzes and games. If you struggle to have these options, speaking to your manager or director may be a great way to get them knowledgeable on how a simple weekly activity with the team may help you in a positive way mentally.
Everyone is most likely, feeling the same way you are and asking how they are doing and chatting on teams in-between the day and scheduled meetings is a nice way to keep that office chatter there.
4) Take a break
As we all know, when you’re in the office with your colleagues you will step away from your desk to make a coffee, you’ll have conversations that are not about work and you’ll properly step away at lunch time. However when we are at home, we often let those little breaks in between slip and often don’t step away from our desk for our lunch time.
Ensuring you are strict with yourself to get these breaks in is really important. Everyone needs breaks to refresh and improve productivity so be sure to try and walk and get out at on your lunch, have those tea breaks and make sure you don’t burn yourself out on a day to day basis.
The end is near, but some of us may be in the situation where we will be working from home for the foreseeable, so being able to create these boundaries and routines will be very important for you to be able to enjoy working from home and find a healthy work life balance.