A lot of us have become quite familiar with working at home, and the pro’s and con’s that come with it. However, there is always room for improvement, and small changes to your space and ways of thinking can hugely impact your mood and productivity.
Now, I am not an expert by any means – these are small things that helped, and I thought I’d share them in the hope that someone else might find them useful too.
- Your workspace – this is a major one, if possible (at all) a designated office space will give you a sense of ”switched on” and a dedicated work space really helps segregate the home and work life which can feel too interconnected if you are trying to use a home space such as your bedroom or Kitchen table. Let’s face it, who wants to get out of bed and deposit themselves at a desk in their bedroom for 8 hours a day? I’ll wait…..
- Device hygiene, and I don’t mean in the cleanliness sense – try to avoid becoming disengaged from your work by falling down a rabbit hole in pinterest or something similar. Try to limit your browsing time to allocated breaks which moves me nicely on to my next point.
- TAKE BREAKS – regular ones. Go for a walk, have a coffee, speak to someone outside of work, Get out in the fresh air, grab something to eat.
- Manage your time as best you can. Try to schedule more complex tasks for early/mid-morning when you have the most energy and enthusiasm to deliver on them in a thorough manner.
- Try to keep a routine, get up at the same time, dress as you would if you were in the office (it helps, trust me).
- Your environment – try to ensure you have as much light and fresh air in your work area as possible. Having a dedicated space for this will also help if there are more than one of you working from home, or you live in shared accommodation. The others in the house have a right to use the kitchen just as much as you have a right to work so we all need to be considerate of each other.
- In terms of mental health, I have found using guided meditation or some reading before bed a good way of getting ready for sleep. Walking/exercising in the fresh air is a great way to refresh yourself and clear your head. Eating nutrient rich and healthy food at regular intervals and consuming lots of water will all help with concentration and mood too.
- Ensuring you have down time is important, be regimental with switching off from work out of hours. You need time to recharge and pursue leisure interests and reconnect with loved ones.
I hope you find the above pointers helpful, and thanks for reading 🙂
Lisa