The prospect of working from home can seem exciting at first. You get to stay at home and you’re grateful that there’s no rush to walk out the door to catch your train, you can watch your favourite TV shows and cook elaborate meals, or sleep through your alarm. However, the initial shine wears off and you don’t recognize one day from another. Work begins to pile up in the absence of a strict work schedule and you’re not sure what to do.
Fret not! There are things you can do to maintain a healthier work schedule and our authors share exactly those to help your work from home days easier:
Draw Boundaries to Co-Exist
“One of the things the virus is teaching us is to co-exist within our family units. However, this too is presenting us with a challenge- how do we manage our family, work, deliverables, etc. on our very own and that too in the confined small spaces of our homes? Since you have a full house with kids, spouse, and others at home, you need to protect your time. Upfront, sit down with the family and work out your schedules together. What are your work hours, when you will have meals together, who will prepare lunch or attend to different chores, when you will have break times, etc. Key is to have a clear communication on how everyone will coexist, without disturbing each other.”
Anju Jain, author of Burnout: Beat Fatigue to Thrive in an Overworked World
Establish a Daily Routine
“Follow a daily routine, while working from home. Where you will sit and work, the number of hours for which you will work each day, which part of the day you will assign to creative work and which other part of the day to routine work. The discipline of establishing and pursuing a daily routine is very important, to ensure that working from home is consistent and productive.”
Harish Bhat, author of Tatalog: Eight Modern Stories from a Timeless Institution
Dress to Trick your Brain
“You must not think you are at home. Get ready as you would for a workday and follow a routine of tasks that you wish to accomplish in the day. This means that you must imbibe the ‘Work Carbohydrates’ so that the thinking part of your day, called ‘Work Proteins’ also figure. The protein and carbohydrate metaphor really works very well.”
R. Gopalakrishnan, author of Crash: Lessons from the Entry and Exit of CEOs
Don’t Let Work Encroach into your Personal Time
“Just like you make time for work, guard your family time too. It is easy to get carried away with your laptop. Close your work as per your committed schedule and gear to spend time with the family. Recall the days of your parents or grandparents, how they spent time with you in the evenings?”
Anju Jain, author of Burnout: Beat Fatigue to Thrive in an Overworked World
Be Kind to Yourself
“Be kind to yourself. You will miss a routine task, not sit for work on time on occasion but as long as these were not meetings or tasks you promised to do, go easy. That small task you promised yourself can wait, if you are stopping to smell the roses.”
Ramesh Dorairaj, author of Games Customers Play: What They Don’t Tell You About Buyer-Seller Relationships
