Maintaining Working from Home Sanity Part 1
Disclaimer: I’m letting you know that these are only my tips; do what works better for you. This will differ depending on your job responsibilities and if you have your child with you or at childcare/school.
I have been working from home for eight years, so I have experience with before and after kids’ experiences (I decided to divide this post into two parts. This first part will focus on working from home before kids). I should also mention that I was married when I started working from home, so the household consisted of two dogs, my husband, and myself.
Working from home is only for some; if you are a social individual, it can feel isolating depending on the job and your social life. However, if you are introverted, it can be the ideal environment for you. Still, it will leave you with even fewer opportunities to socialize if that is something you are looking for. It is also extremely easy to lose yourself at work as you are already in the comfort of your home. You can get a head start on this task, finish a write-up, clean up your inbox, send updates needed for a report, and before you know it, you have worked ten to twelve hours daily. Micro-managing is also highly familiar with working from employees, as your bosses can’t see you; they want to ensure you are working. This type of work environment requires trust from the employer to the employee, and once that trust is broken, you might find yourself out of a job.
Now that we have gotten the negative aspects of working from home out of the way let’s talk about the positives and the ways to manage your time effectively while working from home.
This is my experience and tips before kids. I wish this post could help anyone working from home, so I will include the before-kids experience since this was my benchmark to adapt to when I had kids. I work in the IT field on a regular 8-hour shift. Again, this depends entirely on your job, responsibilities, and employer, but usually, working from home means you have 8 hours. You can divide them however you wish, but they leave you alone as long as the work is done and you meet your responsibilities and duties. This leaves you time to do whatever you need in a day. For example, you can wake up early, exercise, have breakfast, get ready, put in a load of laundry, start your work day, take a 15-minute break, and move the clothes from the washer to the drier, either go out to lunch or prepare it yourself, you can even do your grocery shopping as long as you time out your breaks with your workload. These are all things you can do in just one day working from home, so as you can see, it can be a very flexible and productive work environment.
Now, the key is to have clock-out time for yourself and stick to it. And when you clock out, take time to unwind. For example, you can read a book with a glass of wine, go out for dinner with friends, watch television, or anything that gets you to relax and enjoy your time. Try to avoid doing housework during this time as you will find yourself complaining that since you work from home, your free time is spent cleaning and tidying up. Remember you are home probably 90% of the time working from home, so you can set aside 30 minutes daily to do housework. This keeps your house tidy and clutter-free, and you enjoy your time. One thing that I did was go out with my friends. We frequented this great little restaurant and cocktail bar, which had outdoor seating, and every Tuesday night from 6 to 8, sangrias were four dollars. So we got together at least two to three times a month. If you know anyone else who works from home, you can take turns visiting each other and work from home together, which brings back a sense of being a co-worker. I did this frequently with a friend; it was so much fun! These are some of my tips to help you with working from home mindset:
Get a head start on the day. Waking up early makes you more productive. You can enjoy a walk, exercise, or get/make breakfast.
Do your “get ready” routine even if you stay home. This gets you into the correct mindset of work. It helps separate work from leisure.
Break your workload into time segments as your job role allows.
Set 30 minutes daily for housework and divide them by room. For instance, Monday is the bathroom and laundry, Tuesday is the bedroom, Wednesday is the kitchen and laundry, Thursday is the living room, and Friday is the dining room and laundry. Why did I say three days for laundry? Do small loads frequently; this allows you always to have clean clothes and spend little time on laundry. This also allows for Saturday and Sunday to be practically free of housework.
Plan a meet-up with friends frequently. You can go out to dinner and drinks or even take turns hosting each other in your homes.
Work with a friend. If this is not an option, video call a friend, and even if you are in different places, it lets you feel like you are working with someone.
Always try to unwind and relax after a work day.
Hopefully, this helps you enjoy working from home, and the benefits outweigh its negative aspects. If you feel it would become too isolating for yourself but want to work in an office setting only some of the time, you can look into a hybrid work environment. This would let you work remotely some days and report to the office the rest of the week.
