How To Improve Your Work - Life Balance
Posted on 21st January 2022 at 14:39
When you work remotely, it can be easy for the lines between your work life and your personal life to become blurred. Because there’s little separation between your job and your home, you can end up feeling as though you’re at work all the time!
As more and more people turn to remote working, we’ve compiled some tips on how to maintain a healthy work-life balance, so that you can get work done when you need to, and still enjoy the rest of your life outside office hours!
Stick to a schedule –
Even if you work flexible hours, keeping to roughly the same working schedule will enable you to have a better work-life balance in the long run. It may seem tempting to get up later and delay the start of your working day, but this simply means that your work hours will begin to eat into your evening instead. In order to section off parts of your day that are just for relaxation, it's important to get into the routine of deciding which hours you are working and stick to them as much as possible.
Decide which working hours work best for you and play to your strengths – if you work best in the morning, perhaps consider starting early on in the day and finishing up before you get an afternoon slump.
Protect your personal time –
In order to keep your work and personal life separate, protect your personal time and view it as the valuable commodity that it is!
Let your co-workers know when you are and aren’t going to be available. In today’s world of instant communication, it can be easy for others to expect an immediate reply. Manage the expectations of others when it comes to when you will be able to reply and when you won’t.
Once you’ve finished work, try to switch off by doing something relaxing – perhaps take a walk, or have a long relaxing bath. This will help you to wind down after work and separate work from the rest of your day!
Don’t check work emails out of hours –
You wouldn’t get back in your car and travel back to the office just to check one email once you’ve finished up for the day, so don’t do this when you work remotely. As tempting as it might be to sit down at your workspace to do ‘just one more thing’, this can easily escalate and end up feeling like you’re working around the clock.
If you get a niggling feeling that you've forgotten to do something once you've already clocked off, write a note for yourself and pick it back up in the morning.
Get some fresh air –
If you work from home, you might find that you can spend days without even going outside. It’s easy to get into this habit, but it’s important to get outdoors when you can.
Perhaps schedule time for a walk during your lunch break, or take a walk each day when you finish work. Taking some time to get outside and get fresh air will ensure that you don’t get cabin fever! Using this time to unwind will also help you transition into a more relaxing headspace.
Separate your space –
If you are able, try to separate out your space so that you have an identifiable workspace. This will help to reaffirm the boundaries between work and home. If you don’t have much space to work with and you can’t have whole room as your office, try using a room divider to add an appearance of separation. If you're not sure what to include in your workspace, read our article on desk essentials for virtual assistants!
As you wind down for the weekend, try putting away as much of your work items as possible – even though this may seem like an unnecessary step, having a clear, clean desk on a Friday afternoon will help you to switch off from ‘work mode’ ready for the weekend – it will also make it a lot easier to get going again on Monday morning!
Maintaining a healthy work/life balance isn’t always easy, but it is worth putting in the extra effort! Having a good balance between work and your home life will only make you more productive and help you avoid burnout.
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