Working from home sounds great, in theory.
Wake up whenever you want, have breakfast at a leisurely pace, take a 20-second commute to your home office (still wearing your pyjamas), sip your coffee while checking your emails, kick your feet up onto your desk, and do a bit of work.
It’s true that working from home can be a dream come true for many people, in many ways. But it’s definitely not a walk in the park, and it comes with plenty of potential sources of frustration, too.
In fact, it can drive you fully mad, if you approach it from the wrong angle.
Here are some tips on how not to lose your mind, if you’re about to start working from home.
Tidy the place up & bring it “under your control”
So, you think you like your home, do you?
Well, the ultimate test of that will be when you begin spending virtually all of your waking hours there, working away, while trying to remain productive.
In order to get into a professional state of mind, and actually achieve what you need to during the working day, it’s necessary to have a certain amount of order and control in your home environment.
If the place is an absolute mess, with clutter scattered around everywhere, and with ornaments and decorations everywhere that you can’t stand to look at for more than 10 seconds at a time, you’re going to be sabotaging yourself.
Visit a company such as carpetone.com.au to buy some new home fixtures that actually make you enjoy being in the place.
This is the perfect opportunity to turn your home into a place that exudes order from every corner. If you have needed to upgrade your home appliance brands, now is the opportunity to purchase items that make life easier for you. Whether you need a new fridge, or you have been looking for a new vacuum cleaner, you now have the opportunity to create a new home, even though it has been the same four walls for some time.
So, go on. Tidy it up. In other words, bring it under your control.
Stick to a regular working routine, and put some pants on in the morning
Woe betide you if you get into the habit of waking up at irregular hours, and working in your pyjamas.
A major part of being productive, and feeling sane, when working from home, is simply treating yourself like a serious professional, and not like a troglodyte who scarcely ever sees the sun, and who passes from sleep, to work, to mealtime, in a random blur.
Not only does allowing your behaviour and routine to become too chaotic cause you to be less productive, it also makes it much more difficult for you to actually pop out of the house occasionally, answer a knock at the door, or interact with the world like a functional human being.
Get dressed in the morning, every morning. And try to stick to a regular working routine, so that you can actually be available for your family or partner in the evening.
When you’re not working, seriously consider a bit of “low-tech” time
If you’re working from home, you’re naturally going to be working via the computer, spending plenty of time online, and immersing yourself in a deeply high-tech environment, across the board.
It’s great that modern digital technology allows for this kind of working arrangement, in the first place.
But, spend too much time in front of a screen, and you can easily start to unravel at the seams.
There’s an increasing body of research that shows that people who spend too much time on the computer – and especially online – are more prone to certain psychological issues, not to mention assorted poor health outcomes.
When you’re not working, seriously consider a bit of “low-tech” time. Find some balance by reading a book, carving wood, or going outside.