December 2, 2020
5 Ways to Improve Your Work-from-home Balance
3.5-minute read
Filed under: Life Hacks
Sometimes, it’s only when you start working from home that you realize the extent of the benefits and potential obstacles. Maintaining an even, work/life balance is both an opportunity and a challenge. With the right attitude and advice, however, you can achieve a better balance than ever. Here are our top five ways to improve your work-from-home balance.
Schedule Your Day
Typically, working from home requires more discipline and organization than working onsite, not less. Scheduling your day, therefore, becomes more important than ever. So plan out your entire day, every day, prioritizing the following:
- Things that give you the most results
- Tasks that align with your values
- Jobs only you can do
When working from home, beware of potential interruptions and distractions. Prioritizing your work is an effective strategy to make sure you get the most important things done every day. And a willingness to do fewer tasks better may be helpful, too.
Scheduling your work time also means being strict about when you will take breaks and when to stop work for the day. Being able to stop working on schedule is essential if your goal is to achieve a healthy, work-from-home balance. Having a determined stop time will help you focus while working and demonstrate to others that you will not always be unavailable.
Create Your Workspace
Blurring the divisions between work and home sometimes causes remote workers to feel dissatisfied in both areas. In our experience, people are happier and more productive when maintaining distinct boundaries between worklife and homelife.
When working from home, you can create this boundary by setting up a designated workspace. Your space should contain all the tools and equipment you need to perform your job. And it will need to be as quiet as possible, especially if you will be making calls or using videoconferencing.
Maintaining a professional space will help you get into work mode. And it can create a good impression during video-based interactions online. And don’t forget to add a few personal touches, such as a painting, a favorite plant or a comfortable chair to make the space your own.
If you can help it, do not allow anything in your workspace that is not related to your work. As far as possible, this includes children, other family members and friends. It’s critical to maintain a space that is dedicated to work, however large or small.