Boosting Productivity While Working from Home
You wake up grateful to have a job in these tough times. You understand just how lucky you are. Working from home is a luxury that some people just don’t have. You are very thankful.
But it doesn’t make things any easier.
For some people, working from home is nothing new. They may have been using their home as their work office for years. Working from home is no big change. However, for many others, working from home is a drastic upheaval. In this chaos, what can help you work from home and maintain your mental health? The following are a few fact-based methods to help see you through.
Tips to Make Working from Home Feel More Like Work
You may have never thought you’d say it — but you want work to feel like work. Work shouldn’t feel like a lazy Sunday at home. Zoom meetings in pajama bottoms and reports stained with grape juice can get old very quickly. That “Sunday feel” can also lower the level of work you put out. Sometimes, you have to make yourself a little uncomfortable to put yourself back in the game.
Set Your Boundaries
Creating both a physical and mental space that separates your home from your job is an excellent place to start. In an article entitled “All in A Day's Work: Boundaries and Micro Role Transitions” published in the Academy of Management Review, authors encouraged “boundary-crossing activities” to transition from a casual mindset to a professional one and back.
Drawing lines between our home life and professional life is vital for our personal and work relationships—and our mental health. These lines can be activities such as getting dressed for work, taking a walk around the block or your home, or make your favorite coffee in your work mug. Those little transitions can switch your gears, making you ready to work.
Arrange More Meetings
In the pre-work from home days, you may have groaned at having to go to a meeting. However, seeing your colleagues and communicating with others can boost productivity. Having short, focused meetings can be the jumpstart you need to be more productive. And unlike a large in-person meeting, a videoconference forces people to look at each other and be more engaged. A meeting reminds everyone that there is still work to do, and you’re in it together.
Set Your (Realistic) Priorities
These times are a bit difficult for all of us, so give yourself —and others— a little latitude when it comes to working. Set work priorities, but make sure they’re the most important ones. Busy work that might feel easy to do, but won’t move projects forward, shouldn’t be on the list of priorities.
Why is focusing on priority issues important? Because, during times like these, you will also need to focus on family and yourself. Outlining and identifying the main work priorities conserves your energy and attention for other things in your life, preventing burnout.
Remembering What’s Important
Everyone needs a little help in managing frustrations. Finding healthy ways to decompress might take trying something new. Why not try CalmiGo? CalmiGo is a discrete medication-free personalized breathing regulator that helps to calm you down when you feel anxious. By helping you control your breathing, CalmiGo slows down your elevated mental and physical responses—giving you the calm you’re looking for.
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