Maintaining a Work Life Balance While Working from Home!

It was some time in March 2020 that the world suddenly had to change and our office and like many others, quickly converted our homes into home offices. Finally, I’ve got what I always wanted: to work from home! It has been great, but the work-life balance has been a bit of a challenge. I have come a long way from waking up at 4 am on work-days and then working from 9 am to 12 am should be am on weekends but I still feel I have a lot to improve on in terms of achieving the perfect work-life balance. Along with all the great perks of working from home, there comes a few challenges as well.

Working from home provides an unlimited amount of freedom with how we allocate time to work/play; this is both exciting and, I found, a little overwhelming. Sticking to my original work schedule has helped me most in keeping the amount of family and work time in check. When I don’t stick to my work schedule, I feel stressed and find I try to stretch myself too far in trying to maximize my time working and time with my family. After a few weeks of starting at 4 am the exhaustion kicked in and I ran out of steam. Here are a few things that I do to help me be my best at work and with life.

1.Stick to a work schedule, or a daily life schedule for that matter. Keep it the same for at least a few days to see if any changes need to be made.
2.Make time for yourself every single day, 30 minutes, or a couple of hours. The part of work-life balance that I was missing was the time I wasn’t making for just myself. I was only making time for work and family but no time to do something I enjoy on my own so that I can recharge.
3.Set boundaries with family, neighbours, and friends; just because you are home, it doesn’t mean you are available at any time.
4.Find something that helps to disconnect. Read a book, talk to a friend/ spouse, or watch some TV. This makes me a better person to be around! Disconnecting mentally when switching from work to family or vise versa is very important. When work is at home there is no longer the commute that I was using to disconnect and recharge.
5.Continue to take vacation days and if you are sick you can still take a sick day!

 

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