4 Tips For Separating Work From Home When Working Remotely
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Although we are now looking towards the future (post-COVID-19), working practices have changed dramatically, and working remotely has become a new norm. On the one hand, the chance to work remotely can sound like a dream come true, but for busy parents, it raises a new set of challenges.
Separating work from home is difficult at the best of times, let alone when you are working from your kitchen counter and fitting your team calls in between play-time with your toddler and all of your other house chores. So if you’re finding it hard to adapt to working from your personal space, then here are four tips that may help.
1. Set up a dedicated workspace
It may sound obvious, but if you haven’t done so already, you need to set up a dedicated work area. If you’re lucky enough to have a spare room or an office, this is perfect, but if not, then a corner of one room or even a particular chair at the dinner table can help you begin separating your work area from your rest area.
Fill your workspace with everything you need for the working day and explain to other family members in the house that this is your private space and when you are working in it, you need to be left alone.
2. Use a virtual mailbox
If you are a small business owner who is now finding themselves working out of their home address, then opening a virtual mailbox can be a great way to separate your personal mail from your business mail.
A virtual mailbox from physicaladdress.com can provide you with real-time alerts so that you never miss a letter, package, or parcel again and no longer need to worry about business mail interrupting your family time.
3. Get dressed for work
Although it can be tempting to roll out of bed and start your day in your pajamas, or just to throw on something cozy like your favorite pair of sweats, try to get dressed into what you would usually wear work.
Through years of habit and routine, our brains have learned to associate certain clothes with certain activities, and so wearing the right outfit for work can help to put you in a more productive frame of mind. Similarly, when you finish work, changing out of your work clothes can help you to switch off and relax.
4. Schedule a walk before and after work
In the same way that getting dressed can change your mindset, so can taking a walk. Pre-COVID-19, you likely had some form of commute. This time was yours to get yourself ready for the day and then get yourself prepared to shut off at night. Get up a little earlier than you need to and schedule some time to take a quick five or ten-minute walk before coming home and sitting down to work. When you finish for the day, do the same thing, except when you return through your front door, it is now time to relax.
Separating work from home can be a challenge when working and living in the same space – we hope that these four tips can help.
