If you’re one of those whose work environment shifted to home in the new normal, you probably struggle with two things: you feel grateful that you still have work to do, but you also find it hard to keep your motivation to work at home. It’s the environment you used to go home to, to relax and recharge at the end of a stressful workday. Now, it’s the same place where you take your stressful calls and meetings.
Still, the job needs to be done. What you can do to make the situation better is to change your mindset. Here’s how:
Separate your work and personal life
It may be hard to do at first glance, but there are many ways to do it. First, make sure you have a workspace that is not in your bed, also known as the most comfortable part of your house. In fact, position it as far away from your bed as possible. This way, you will have to exert some physical effort to get out of bed and get to work. Consider this as your commute. As you walk those paces to your workspace, you can get your mind into work mode.
Set a clear stop to work
When you know you have a lot of things to do for the day, you may want to start early or you may work until late in the evening just to get things done. Remember that you only have a set number of hours per day, and this is the same as what everyone else has. Every minute you spend working is a minute taken out of your personal time. Over time, all the excess hours spent at work will only lead to you feeling more tired and unmotivated.
Leave room for breaks
When you’re already stressed from too much work, the last thing you want to do is take a break. Sometimes, you even forget to take that precious break even if you want to, because you’re working too hard. But if you don’t take your breaks, you are depriving yourself of the chance to recharge even just for a few minutes. If you really can’t afford to take a break to do something like reading or eating, at least put on a Korean face mask to revitalize your skin and cool you down a little. This will help with the stress that has accumulated throughout the day.
Keep work notifications off your phone
You may have already clocked out for the day, but if you continue to receive email and message notifications about work on your phone, you’re not able to relax completely. This adds to that feeling that you’re working endlessly. See if you can snooze the notifications until your work shift starts. If you can’t, log out of your work email and messaging apps completely.
Working from home comes with a lot of perks, such as being with your family or saving on transportation costs. However, it also requires that you be more mindful of your personal time. Respect your rest times so that you can come back the next day relaxed and ready to tackle your workload.
