Working from home can seem like an ideal work environment. You can work from the comfort of your home in pajamas. What more can a person want? However, working from home can be just as stressful as working from an office.
Every work environment comes with certain challenges and your home is no different. There are many predispositions for making your home a pleasant place to work - you just need to make a few adjustments. The following tips will show you how you can manage stress while you’re working from home.
Set up an Office
Not having a peaceful place to work in can be a huge obstacle for remote workers. The typical work environment consists of busy people with their heads in their assignments. Your work environment can be filled with talking, TV noises, doors opening and closing, endless questions, and the list just goes on.
It is imperial that you exclude yourself from a tension-filled place while working. Work frustrations will only rise when fueled with hectic energy.
Find a room or space in your home where no one will bother you and set up a small office. Even the garage is better than a living room with three family members consistently interrupting your work.
Prioritize Your Tasks
When the only person who supervises your work is you, procrastination can seem like an inevitable outcome. Working on projects at the last minute is a cause of stress for practically everyone.
The solution lies in prioritizing. This useful technique can be a huge revelation in terms of your work habits.
Each day create a list of your tasks for the next day. On Sundays, you can make the list for the upcoming week as well. Having an overview of what awaits you will help you determine the priorities.
Taking care of the projects with approaching deadlines and removing the most difficult tasks from the list will make your job much less stressful.
Have a Day (or Two) Off
The ability to work whenever you want can easily drive to a habit to work seven days a week. “I’ll just get something done quickly,” you say to yourself and there goes another day that was supposed to be solely for relaxation.
Why is it important that you have days when you do nothing work-related? Maybe you’ll just work for a few minutes but again your brain will get back in the work mode.
You have to understand that life is more than your job. Welcoming your work tasks into each day of your life can build up anxiety in no time. It’s better to give some extra effort one day if that means that the next day you won’t think about work for a second. A healthy and happy mind needs days off.
Getting someone to help you out can also free you some time. For example, if you need to edit a report, check out websites’ ratings to find a service that can handle that task instead of you.
Detach Yourself from Work
When the same space is your workplace and your home, it is much harder to step away from work thoughts and relax. Set boundaries and ensure that you differentiate work time from free time.
Try to set a working schedule. With such a routine your mind will learn to relax after the "workday" is over. There is no need for a rigid schedule. Simply have an overview of all the tasks ahead and plan how much and when you’ll handle them the next day.
Spreading your assignments through the whole day won’t allow you to take a real break. Working in this manner can be truly overwhelming and stressful.
It's Okay Not to Be Productive Every Day
Do you know those days when you don't feel like getting up at all? Even if you get yourself to do a few things you know that you should've done much more. We've all been there.
The realization that you have all day to do the work and you still don’t manage to finish it can be so stressful. As much as you try to force yourself to be more productive the results aren’t showing – and that’s okay.
Accept the fact that your productivity level can’t be 100% at all times. That’s impossible. Do some more work on the days when you feel extra motivated. In that way, you can allow yourself to be less productive from time to time.
Don’t Avoid Social Interactions
Working from home often comes hand in hand with solitude. There are no coworkers you meet with daily. Your breaks aren't filled with sharing how you spent the weekend. You might have a Zoom meeting from time to time and that's pretty much it when it comes to a relationship with coworkers.
The "lonely wolf" situation that comes from remote working can easily transfer to your personal life. Occupied with work, you can miss out on social gatherings. As time passes, you can get used to being alone in your home.
The solitude might feel good at first but it doesn’t change the fact that people are social beings. We need interaction. Surrounding yourself with people you love will give you an endorphin boost and take your mind off of work.
Final Thoughts
Eliminating stress from our life sounds perfect but it's pretty much impossible. It's normal that you get stressed from time to time. However, you shouldn't let it overpower you. For that reason, you should implement the above-mentioned tips in your life and observe how they affect you. Working from home provides you with autonomy and freedom. What is up to you is to make the most of it and do your best to mitigate stress.
Written by Daniela McVicker
About the Author
Daniela McVicker is a contributor to Topwritersreview. She is also an experienced writer with a degree in social psychology from Durham University. Daniela is primarily focused on writing about self-improvement. She has authored a number of insightful and motivating articles like “Making The Right Choices Every Day” and “7 Steps To Open Yourself To New Opportunities & Possibilities”.
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