How to Maintain Work-Life Balance When Working Remotely
April 22, 2022 - Reading time: 5 minutes
Have you found the perfect balance between work and personal life while working from home? Telecommuting, like working on-site jobs, can help you live a fulfilling life. A 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that 70% of Americans find meaning in their career or job.
One key factor may be maintaining a work-life balance when working remotely from home. Good physical and mental health are essential. You may visit Motherhoodcommunity.com for options like implementing methods to boost your immunity or depression prevention while working remotely.
Having a Plan B to ensure that everything runs well, like backup internet for lost connection, can also provide more time for your friends and family. You can stay online to finish everything on your daily to-do list — including relaxing.
Let’s look at some of the most productive ways to do a balancing act for remote working.
Find the Right Remote Work Productivity Tools
These tools can help you remain focused to stay on schedule. With these tools, you won’t have to tie a string around your finger to remember things.
You have lots of options, including tools with a:
- Timer
- Reminders
- Calendar or planner
These basic tools can make your workdays more productive and efficient. Regardless of the tools you need, it’s likely that there’s an app for that.
Make sure to find communication tools that work for you. Skype, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams are some of the top tools for chats and meetings.
Create a Home Office Space
One of the primary benefits of telecommuting is you can work from nearly anywhere. The problem is your work and home life can get blurred easily when working home-based.
Designing a home office can solve this problem. Instead of leaving an office building when you’re done working, you leave your home office.
It’s ideal to have a dedicated room for working, especially if you have young children. It allows you to close or lock the door when you’re working. You’ll have a lot less privacy working on a laptop from your kitchen table.
Another option is to turn part of a room into your home office. It could be a section of your bedroom or family room, for instance. You can use that part of the room exclusively for activities like writing, researching, and chatting.
Make sure the area is a distraction-free section of a room or the house. Loud noises or heavy foot traffic can make it challenging to stay focused.
Reserve Office Chairs for Working
One of the best ways to separate professional and personal life is to avoid your home office space on weekends or days off.
What are the potential problems? Just sitting at your workstation may cause you to think about the tons of work you have to complete.
You may be tempted to cross over to work mode when you’re supposed to be enjoying the day and taking a much-needed break.
Here’s an option. You can find multipurpose chairs that function as a desk chair during the workweek and a “fun chair” on the weekends.
You can toggle between an ergonomic chair to a casual chair. Make sure to move the chair away from your workstation during non-work days.
Besides their dual functionality, these chairs also save space.
Maintain a Non-Work-Focused Morning Routine
While jobs are a part of life, you don’t have to start your day with them. Try beginning your day with activities you enjoy. Go for a walk, do meditation, or watch funny YouTube videos.
What’s essential is doing activities that help you feel more relaxed before you begin your workday.
Try to keep your mind free of work-related thoughts early in the morning. If you have an “aha moment,” jot down the idea and deal with it when you’re in work mode.
Add a Start and End Time to Your Work Schedule
One of the big mistakes many home-based workers make is thinking they have all day to finish their work. Sure, you’ll have more flexibility in this area. It’s especially true if you’re not required to clock in and out at specific times.
Meanwhile, you’ll need to stay productive to free up time for your personal life. One way to accomplish that is to start work around a particular time. It’s a good idea to have a morning routine but consider limiting it to an hour or so.
One lifehack you can use is making 5:00 PM the target time to end your workday. What’s the reason? It’s easier to stay focused and motivated to finish work tasks as soon as possible.
Before you call it a day, one trick is to add a sticky note to your home office workstation or wall as a self-reminder of what you’ll need to start the next morning. We remember 100% of what we write down.
Leverage the Lifestyle Benefits of Telecommuting
This process starts with perceiving remote work as a lifestyle instead of just--well, work. Here’s why. Once you take that step, it will be easier to figure out how to separate work and personal life.
Consider all the lifestyle benefits you can get by working from home. You can skip long and tiring commutes to a physical workplace. There’s no need to wear a uniform or follow dress codes. Another plus is every day is casual Friday!
Personal space is another big plus of virtual offices. You’ll have the whole kitchen to yourself, and you can avoid boring and annoying coworkers.
While telecommuting offers more freedom, use it wisely. Make your schedules, then follow them like you would at a 9-to-5 office job.
Conclusion
It’s okay to love your job, and virtual offices can help you work more efficiently. The key is to leverage that convenience. It’ll be easier to get stuff done, avoid workplace burnout, and live the meaningful life you want and deserve.
By Fay Smith
Reference
1 How Americans feel about the satisfactions and stresses of modern life (2020). Article