The most recent Pandemic COVID-19, has changed a lot of perceptions in human minds. It will be fair to say that it’s one of the unique happening in the world which has altered the future course of human living and working. Among this increasing chaotic conditions, working from home, study from home, attend classes from home, teach from home have become the buzz words and new normal.
While working from home or studying from home can sound idyllic but the visions of working or teaching or studying in casual dresses like regular pajamas all day long can bring its own unique challenges that are sometimes hard to anticipate. There are two big challenges for most people who work from home. One is staying productive and the other is not letting your work take over your entire life.
Although every methodology can be improved, however I have found that some of these strategies would be extremely helpful and productive while working from home and will help in maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Guard your time, There is a strange thing that happens when people find out that you don’t go to the office every day. There is a strange tendency when we allow other activities of home start creeping into our work schedule. People who work from home need to make sure they are not saying yes to things that eat into their work time.
Stick to your calendar, I would ask you to schedule everything on your 📅 calendar. I use Fantastical & Google calendar, but you can use 🍎 Calendar, Outlook calendar, or can suse pen and paper calendars. The key is to block out time for whatever you have on your schedule. If you are working from 8 to 3 Or 9 to 5 with an hour for lunch, put that in. If you are working out 5 times a week, put that as well in the calendar. Even if you have your own work still it’s important to have your schedules mark to scale your business.
Letting your calendar determine what you are doing at any particular time takes a lot of decision making off your shoulders and makes most people far more productive.
It’s important to Outline home time & work time for a better Work-Life balance :- 👇
When you work from home, it’s easy to look productive and let your work time bleed into your home life. But the next thing you know you are burning the midnight oil, wondering where the day went. I would suggest that , it is a good 💡 idea to have a sign board of CLOSE / OPEN on the door of you so called home office. It should says “open” on one side and “closed” on the other.You set it to open , when working and set it close when you are not. Let me assure that although it might sound very silly but it really -really works if you commit to yourself that you will not work once the sign says closed. Working from home, I’ve found I’m much more productive and happy when I have clear boundaries between work life and home life.
FINDING YOUR FLOW IS IMPORTANT TO BUILD FOCUS. Stay Focused on the task at hand is much easier to say then to practice in real time. This one might take some time to master. When you work at home your environment can be much more distracting than when you work at an office. If you want to enjoy your work and not be stressed out all the time, it’s important to focus on the task you are doing and then move onto something else.
Focus is a skill that can be learned and it is well worth for learning.
If you are routinely drawn to browsing the web instead of working, then you should seriously consider getting one of the many website blocking programs that are on the market. There are many extensions for Chrome that work well. I personally like StayFocused for its flexibility.
Dressing up for real does help ? , I saw it happening in real time.
I see my children getting dressed every morning and wait for their teachers to come on line to start their respective classes. After carefully observing them from initial days to now full fledged classes on daily basis , I could witness a real change in their approach. Once , they put on the uniform , they behave as if it’s a school class room and not their study room at home. When it comes to adults, I do get the working in your PJs all day is the fantasy that many people dream about but the reality is that it does not give you the right frame of mind to work. Just think about it.
Track your time, It’s VERY easy to waste time when you are working from home. One thing that really helps is using a time tracking app. I’ve found that the simple act of recording the amount of time you spend on every task can help add an element of accountability to where you’re spending your time and help you be far more productive. Most people do better if they take a few minutes every few hours to take a short walk or squeeze in a quick chore around the house. If you’re using a productivity system like the POMODOROTECHNIQUE then this is automatically built into your schedule. I also have my stayfocus app to remind me to stand and take a short break not more than 10 min) every hour.
Take time for joy Make sure when you are scheduling your calendar that you include things in it that bring you joy. All work and no play is no good for anyone. Scheduling in joy will give you something to look forward to and help recharge your batteries so you can be productive when you get back to work.
Whether you’ve been working from home for years or, like many people, are still adjusting to working from home these few ideas can help you be more productive, create work-life boundaries when working from home, and take time to enjoy life. Try one, two, or all of them and see which ones work for you. When you are working from home do not forget to give due importance to your health. Healthy body will always possess a healthy mind.
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