Home working could be the future: How to unwind when your office is your sanctuary
Having been forced to embrace remote working because of the Coronavirus pandemic, many companies could change their policies in the future.
Many home workers could find themselves enjoying the experience and finding it more productive. At the same time, employers will see a reduction in their overheads as they won’t have to pay to rent and maintain offices.
One of the major problems that arise when working from home for staff is an ability to switch off after their working day is over. In normal circumstances, as many as a third of workers were unable to stop thinking of work in the evenings, so it’s understandable that this number will rise now many workers are working from their kitchen tables, or in extreme cases, their bedrooms.
If you’re struggling to unwind after work as a remote operative, then here are some of our tips to help you achieve the work/ life balance you need.
Stick To A Routine
As soon as you start working from home, it’s easy to blur the lines between personal time and work time, especially if your employer also offers flexible working hours. However, if you don’t have a set routine in place, then you may find yourself struggling to properly adjust to each part of your life.
In order to ensure that you separate your home and working lives, you should create a routine and try to stick to it where possible. This means setting a specific time to start work, take breaks, and then clock off.
Make Time For Hobbies
Usually, after a busy day of work and a weekend set to be spent socialising and having fun, it’s easy to want to flop onto the sofa and watch TV. However, now that circumstances have changed and social distancing practices are in place, you may find yourself understimulated.
As such, it’s vital that you distinguish your personal time by filling it with stimulating activities. You could follow an exercise video online, learn a new skill, or even just play your favourite casino games. If you previously signed up to Gamstop in an effort to reduce the number of games you played, but now want to enjoy them during your isolation, then search for betting sites that are not on Gamstop. You can find a list of them via thebest-casinos, so you can play and have fun during your downtime after working from home all day.
Create A Dedicated Workspace
Working from your sofa, or even your bed will make it hard for you to switch off when you finish work and want to use those spaces to relax in. To avoid this, you should create a dedicated workspace that is separate from the rest of your home.
This space might be a separate room if you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated study space in your property. If you don’t, then you can set up in the corner of a room, and section this area off when not in use. Alternatively, you can set up on a table, such as the dining room table, then pack away at the end of the working day.
Get Dressed In The Morning
It might sound simple, but when you’re working from home and not meeting others in the office, it’s easy to start working in your pyjamas or other slovenly clothes. By not getting appropriately dressed for work, you’ll struggle to create a mental distinction between being at work and enjoying your free time.
To motivate yourself to get dressed for work every day, you should separate your work clothes from your casual outfits. Set aside an outfit for the next working day before you go to bed at night, put it on and dress as you usually would when you were going to the office. Once your working day is over, change out of your working clothes into casualwear. This approach will help you to create the distinction between your clothes and your activities.
Set Boundaries With Your Fellow Residents
If you live with others, be they housemates, children, family members or even pets, then it can be hard to make them understand that you’re not off work, but working from home. As a result, they may want to spend time with you while you’re working, or even be uninhibited about interrupting you.
Avoid this issue by setting clear boundaries with them. Tell your family members that they need to avoid talking to you during your working day unless it’s an emergency. For pets and young children, who will not be able to understand these instructions, make sure that they have someone else to care for them, who can keep them away from you while you work. If pets are roaming around your home, then consider shutting them out of your workspace. If you can’t do this, then create them a specific space to sit and include items that will distract them so that you can get on with your job with minimal interruptions.
Give Yourself Personal Goals
At work, most professionals have goals and targets, which are great for motivating them to achieve even greater success in their role. When you’re working from home, it can be easy to waste your personal time, particularly when you’re already social distancing and unable to undertake the activities you usually enjoy.
To help you create a definitive line between your work and home lives, you should set yourself personal goals as well as professional ones. This approach will allow you to reset your brain after work, as you will now be focused on achieving your personal aims, not the ones you were set as part of your job. These aims can be simple, such as to spend a certain amount of time per day learning a new skill, exercising or even cooking a fresh meal every other day. Whatever your personal goals, they will help you to separate your professional and private lives, as well as to ensure that you improve your wellbeing during this challenging experience.