It seems like the new normal now – working from home, Zoom is your new best friend, you’ve had too many coffees before midday and the kids still need help too! Multitasking during lockdown whilst working is tough, but don’t panic. We’ve listed 5 easy ways to keep your wellness front of mind when working from home. We hope these tips help you to maintain a calm but effective working environment.
Image Credit: @itslaurenvictoria
Create boundaries to help split work time and home time
Whether you have a home office to work from, or you’re stuck using the kitchen table, it’s important to have ‘your space’ to get everything done. Make sure that you’re starting at a decent time, and you aren’t checking emails outside working hours – just because you are at home does not mean you need to be readily available. At the end of the working day, close the door to the office or clear your chosen workspace, and start the rest of your evening!
Organise your daily plan to reduce stress
Depending on how you like to work, having a check-off to-do list is a must! You can do this with a handy to-do list, using sticky notes, keeping a daily planner or why not try it digitally? Platforms like Trello, Asana, Microsoft To-Do or Evernote let you manage your daily to-do’s digitally, letting you schedule, plan and note what needs to be done, no paper needed. Whatever you do, make sure you tick off what you have completed for that instant hit of satisfaction!
Take regular breaks
Just like a normal working day, it’s so important for your wellbeing to take the breaks you need for meals, water, coffee or even just a short rest. One of the joys of working at home for us at Busy B is taking our lunch break and getting to make a nice lunch at home – no need to run to the shops for a meal deal! Why not prepare some lunches ahead of time, like batches of pasta salad or soup? And some cake won’t hurt either…
Be present in how you are feeling
We can all be so busy, it’s hard to keep how we’re feeling in check. After all, there’s so much to do on top of just working! There will be some days where it’s harder to get going. If we don’t recognise we’re dealing with too much it can easily lead to burn out. On these days it’s important to pause and consider your wellness, accept how you’re feeling, and take small steps to get back to feeling more like yourself. Confiding in a friend, family member or colleague can also help reduce feeling overwhelmed. It will also help you feel less alone. Re-assess your workload too – could that report wait until tomorrow? Could you reschedule that call that you can’t quite fit in?
Make time for some fun activities
Working from home doesn’t need to feel like a typical working day. It’s hard being apart from our teams and friends at work but there are still some ways to brighten up your day. Helpful group platforms like Microsoft Teams or Google Meet links together company email accounts, so instead of having to send lots of emails, you could have a group chat just for catching up with colleagues. Why not check in on some team members you haven’t chatted with in a while? Suggest a group video chat where you don’t discuss work. Make sure to encourage them to think about their own wellness!
Make sure you create some fun playlists for listening to while you work. Or what about playing that podcast everyone keeps talking about? Other ways to continue with some fun into the evening are things like pub quizzes, themed hangouts and Netflix parties.