By Devin Renspie
In times where much of our work and life is forced to occur in the same place, a.k.a, at home, it’s extra important to make sure your work/life balance is maintainable for you. While ultimately everyone's healthy balance will look different, here are a few tips to get you thinking about how you can make this new norm work for you.
Create a separate working space
If you’re working from home, you need a dedicated space to work from. If you have a spare room, say hello to your new office! If not, no worries! Designating a spot with a comfortable chair and enough counterspace that you can center your workspace around works, too. Having a separate space for work is critical in creating a productive work environment at home. Moreover, this separate space makes it easier to switch between work and personal time.
Make transitions to and from work
When working away from home, your commute acts as a buffer between your work time and your personal time, but when you’re working from home, you have to develop this buffer on your own. To do this, think about what your usual commute entails. Maybe that means listening to music or a podcast to mimic what you do on your drive to work, or maybe that involves walking around the block to mimic your walk to work. Whatever you choose to incorporate, make sure that you’re consistent in the amount of time you spend doing your new routine. It’s best if your evening routine is your morning routine in reverse, but ultimately, stick with what works best for you.
Find time to socialize and take breaks
Working from home can be isolating and draining, especially if you’re used to breaking up your workday with the casual interactions that working at an office can bring. To combat the loneliness that working from home can bring, make an effort to reach out to your colleagues a few times a day. At Olivia Management, we have a #random Slack channel where we can talk about anything non-work related, which helps to encourage these casual chats that would usually occur in the office.
Taking regular breaks can also help if working remotely has been leaving you drained. The Pomodoro Technique recommends taking short, 3-5 minute breaks between 25 minute work sessions. After four pomodoros, take a longer, 15-30 minute break before beginning the cycle again. Even if you just use this time to get up and stretch, taking breaks can help your motivation last throughout the day and boost your time management and organization skills.
Disconnect outside of work hours
In the spirit of keeping routines around your work, make sure you stick to your set work hours. You might be tempted to work later into the night than you normally do since you no longer have a commute to worry about, but doing this is a slippery slope to having work take over your entire day. To further separate your work from your personal life, consider disconnecting from the channels you use to communicate for work in the evenings and on the weekends. For me, this means putting my Slack on do not disturb outside of my work hours.
Plan out your down time
Even with the above tips, you might still struggle with separating your work life from your personal life when working from home. That’s why it helps to plan out your downtime so that you’re more motivated to get off of work on time. Maybe that looks like going for an after-work walk, catching an episode of a show you like, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner, or FaceTiming with friends or family. Plan to do something that takes your mind off of work for a while. Bonus points if that something involves a change of scenery, since it’s easy to forget that there’s a whole world out there!