There is no doubt that working from home can seem like a dream come true at first, but it can quickly turn sour if you aren’t able to maintain a healthy work-life balance while you work remotely.
One of the benefits of owning a small business is the fact that you have the freedom to run it how you want.
The good thing about this is that you can often set your own hours and even work from home if you choose to do so. Nowadays, even if you don’t work for yourself, more and more jobs offer the option of working from home on a regular basis, even if you don’t work for yourself.
It is possible to accomplish a lot more when you are not distracted by the distractions of the office and the politics that go on there.
It’s easy to fall into bad habits.
Working too much or too little is not a good thing. Stress, missed deadlines. If you do not find the right balance between your work and your personal life, you will burn out.
Managing work-life balance
Working from home has worked for many before you. Here are some tips.
- Establish a routine that you can stick to.
- Take your health into consideration.
- Take the time to know yourself.
- Keep in mind the people around you when you are making decisions.
- Create a workspace in your home or office.
Here are some suggestions, as well as a few solid do’s and don’ts we would like to share with you.
Establish a routine and stick to it
Creating a routine that helps you separate work time from life time is crucial if you want to be successful.
Theoretically, you could probably work all night and sleep all day, but in the long run, both your personal and business life would suffer as a result.
In order to maintain a healthy work-life balance, it is helpful to establish a regular routine, just as you would if you were working for a real company. A good way to begin would be to get up at the same time every day, even if, theoretically, you could sleep in.
Until you have worked from home for a while, you may not have realised the psychological impact that commuting has on you.
The commute home helps you decompress after a long work day, while arriving at your desk knowing it’s time to work. As soon as you walk in the door, you feel as though you have been taken out of the office for the day.
When your commute involves walking from the bedroom to the dining room table via the bathroom and the kitchen, then you lose this feeling of getting your work done on time. In order to become more productive, you need to figure out for yourself what it takes to be in (and out of) a work-focused mindset.
It might be a good idea to take a shower, eat some breakfast, dress for work, then make a cup of coffee to signal that your work day has begun by taking a shower and eating breakfast. There is even a possibility that you might walk out the front door of your home and turn around and walk back to your place of employment to start your day.
It is also important for you to create rituals that help you to switch off at the end of the day so that you can relax and unwind.
A simple way to do this would be to shut off your computer until the morning. You could consider owning different devices for work and play, such as a tablet, which is perfect for reading the newspaper and playing games at the same time. When you do this, it indicates to you and to the people around you whether you are working hard or just kicking back.
When you sit down for work every day, you want to be able to feel that your body and mind are ready for the business of the day when you sit down to work. In the same way, you’ll know when the time is right to switch off when you’re off the clock once you’ve finished working.
Health is important
If you work from home, it is easy to sit on your backside all day long. It would be a good idea to build exercise into your morning routine so that you can find time to do it. Think of it as an investment in yourself if you have trouble finding (or justifying) the time to invest in yourself.
You can end up paying a lot of money to keep yourself in good health if you have to pay for regular physiotherapy services.
Working within arm’s reach of a refrigerator is also one of the most dangerous things you can do. Make sure you plan ahead when it comes to shopping for your weekly groceries so that you’ll have healthy meals available for when you need them. Make sure that you do not fall into the trap of going out for breakfast or lunch too often, which is a bad habit for your waistline, as well as your pocket book.
Avoid being a hermit. It’s bad for your mental and physical health, as well as your real estate business. Unless you’re out and about networking, you won’t be able to grow your client base to the extent that you should be.
Know yourself better
In some cases, you will be more productive first thing in the morning, while in other cases, you may be more productive late at night. Plan your day in accordance with your rhythms by understanding them.
If you find yourself on a productivity high, then you should take on the more challenging tasks first, then you can slow down on the mundane tasks when you are struggling to get started. By keeping a to-do list, you will be able to find the next task you need to complete much easier.
Take advantage of the tricks that you can use to coax yourself into a productive mood so that you don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike. When it comes to coping with stress, music can really make a difference.
During slow periods, you can take advantage of the lull to make good progress on the items on your to-do list, such as balancing your books or getting a head start on your taxes if necessary.
You should avoid getting into the habit of letting your late-afternoon productivity boost run over into the evening and causing you to lose time with your family or friends.
Don’t procrastinate when you know on the weekend you’ll have time to catch up.
There is never a reason to agree to work at the last minute on a weekend (even just once).
Take a moment to relax and put your feet up
It is important to allow yourself to have downtime once you have internalised these best practices. Taking some time out to relax as a reward for your hard work could also be part of your schedule.
Some people may find themselves tempted to work on holidays, but always avoid the temptation to do so.
There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to take a roster day off from time to time. As long as you remember that there is always something that could be done, then you will never feel guilty about taking some time off.
Think about the people around you when making decisions
You need to strike a work-life balance if you live with others. This can be useful in some ways, as it is a good way to encourage you to stick to the business hours as much as possible in order to reduce the impact on your loved ones.
Take care of your loved ones, but make sure they understand your routine when it comes to theirs. The most important thing you can do is to make sure that everyone in the family understands the difference between a stay-at-home parent and one who works at home – including how to divide the housework between the two.
In the same way, make sure your friends understand that they aren’t allowed to come over whenever they feel like it.
A family commitment can serve as a useful bookend to your day, allowing you to get up early in the morning to see people off, followed by stopping work in the evening to get dinner ready for everyone.
If you are actually sitting in someone’s living room instead of your office, you shouldn’t get upset with them for disturbing you in your ‘office’.
Maybe you can make it your responsibility to prepare the lunches in the mornings so that you have to be up and about early in the morning, even if people could do it themselves. If people get home after lunch, you might want to plan a stop for afternoon tea.
Next, find a quiet place where you can work for another hour before you need to start thinking about dinner, and then head home.
Create a workspace in your home or office
The best way to make sure your home office is set up to be a productive space is to have a dedicated space for it. Consider investing in one or more of the following:
You will need a decent desk (a secondhand desk is fine)
Good chair
Everything you need to work on your computer
Close any doors in your office or floor screens you can use to separate work areas.
Comfort is key
Whenever you are working at home, it is important to be aware of ergonomics as it is unlikely you will have an OH&S manager who will take care of your well-being if you are working at the dining room table.
Typically, dining chairs do not have the appropriate height to serve as desk chairs, which can cause you discomfort in your back, shoulders, and arms as a result of using them as chairs.
It is for this reason that it is so important to invest in an office chair that can be stowed away when you are not working (putting it back in its corner after work can also help signal that your work day is coming to an end). Additionally, you should remove all your work items from the table at the end of the day, so that you are not at the office when you need to be.
Secure your digital space as well
Avoid giving out your mobile number at work.
Instead, use a VoIP service. During family time, at least put your phone on silent. Avoid being reachable 24/7. There is a possibility that this might mean that you have to break the habit of checking your messages outside the working hours.
Make sure you don’t read work emails over the weekend.
A change of scenery might be helpful one day a week, so you can work in a cafe or shared workspace. It’s easy to procrastinate at home when you’re distracted.