The unprecedented times have brought all of us humans to adapt the work from home policy. As coronavirus spreads rapidly all across the globe, people are staying inside to assure their safety. This in return has brought the offices at home too. Things changed overnight, thereby also changing the way of life. In fact, most of the people have never even stayed at home for such long hours.
Work-life balance has become the most important facet that people are unable to obtain these days. Being at home at all hours of the day, and your office being inside the same four walls as your house. These factors have made it nearly impossible and difficult to separate work life from personal life. The inability to maintain a work-life balance has been an issue since many years. But with the ongoing pandemic, the problem has increased further.
And it is important to find the balance at this hour, given that the situation is uncertain and difficult for the whole world. So how can one find a balance between work and the day-to-day routine of life amid the economic unbalance and a danger to life prevailing all around?
How To Maintain A Work-Life Balance
Plan Your Activities For The Day
Set a time as to when you would like to do what. Analyzing and dividing the day into certain activities that you want to complete within the day can be an effective way to maintain balance.
- One option could be to set your working hours the same as you would have during regular office days. This will give you a proper routine to work within the confined hours on a regular basis.
- Another option can be to divide your working hours and personal tasks evenly throughout the day.
- Keep a track of time, noting down what work-related as well as personal activities would you want to proceed with for one week. As a result, you will be able to evaluate where you spent extra time and where you need to invest more time. OfficeTimer and Toggl are some of the softwares that you can use to effectively manage your tasks and time.
Set Your Priorities
If you have your priorities set for both work as well as personal life, a lot can be balanced and planned accordingly. A disciplined set of priorities makes it easier to have a balanced day. The only task is to evaluate what should be your priority and what not.
- Ask yourself what is of utmost importance and thereby decide where you lack.
- Start working on things where you feel you lack.
- Give less time to things that you feel like you are overdoing so that you can achieve a state of balance.
- If a priority task is not yielding the desired results, try different methods of approaching it.
Maintain Boundaries
It is very important to be honest to yourself and set realistic limits for work as well as personal responsibilities. If you set unachievable goals, you will drown deep down in the pending work, without even realizing. This will result in your work following you 24/7.
- Finalize your work limits by discussing your targets with your supervisor, colleagues or team mates.
- Set time limits and work only in the pre-decided time bracket, until and unless a work emergency calls in.
- When done with office hours, make it a point to not rush back to revert to your work emails or messages, unless importantly needed.
Make Time For Health
The importance of taking care of your health cannot be emphasized enough. Especially now when we are all surrounded by a danger to our health, it is vital to take care of ourselves. Moreover, if you are not in a good state physically, it will affect your work as well as peace of mind and you will not be able to give your best.
- Maintain a proper sleep schedule and follow a regular sleep pattern.
- Exercise at least 3 times per week. 24HourFitness and BornFitness are some of the sites where you can find personal trainers, yoga instructors as well as diet plans to keep yourself fit.
- If you work out regularly and sleep well, you will be able to increase your productivity levels as well.
You can also read about 11 Healthy After Work Habits To Try Instead Of Sitting On The Couch All Night
Have A Designated Workspace
The absence of an office premise can hamper your ability to work whole-heartedly and in all seriousness. So it is important to have a separate workspace, away from the comfort of your couch or bed.
- If you have a distinct workspace, it will give you an idea of responsibility and work seriousness, dedicating the prescribed time to your work alone.
- Make it a point to sit alone while working, without your concentration being hampered by your family members. Distraction is an enemy of productivity.
- All family members must decide amongst themselves to respect each other’s time and space while working.
- Ditch all the distractions by building a secluded workspace. You can refer to the video Working from Home: How to Set Up Your Workspace to get an idea about how to create a workspace of your own.
Communicate Effectively
Since more than half of the world is working from home amid Covid-19, companies are trying harder and harder to meet ends and make work from home as effective as possible. Team mates do not meet every day to discuss the tasks and results. Everyone is dependent on technology and that is why communication can sometimes be disturbed.
- While working from home, companies can make use of various communication software or tools to make sure that the employees of the company can communicate effectively. Taggbox and Workplace are tools which help in easy communication for companies working remotely.
- Video conferences should also be held time-to-time to maintain a sense of working along with a team. This way you can also make out how a colleague is coping with the work and if there is any barrier.
Implement The Balance
Weekends definitely mean that work should not follow you for the days you get off. Treat the weekends different from how you treat the rest of the days of the week. And when your time is up for the day on weekdays, learn to switch off the work on time. When you had a regular office, you used to travel back home from the office at a fixed time. Make the same habit while working from home as well. If you do not create the gap between professional and personal life, both sides of your life will be affected.
- Decide upon a specific time and get off from the screen by that time. Discuss with your colleagues and team mates about the timeline and coordinate accordingly.
- Socialize on calls or texts after your work is over. These are difficult times when people cannot step out of their house and are staying inside to maintain safety. So connect virtually with your family and friends.
- Plan your evenings distinctly on some days. Because if you will have something to look forward to after work, you will definitely switch off from work on time.
It was definitely easier to unplug and end your working day in an office before Covid-19. If nothing else, people would look forward to going home. But since almost all employees are working from home, maintaining the cut off seems difficult. Moreover, there are no plans to be made for an outing either. The only safe place is inside the walls of your own house. Employees therefore find no compelling reason to shut off their laptops and end up working all through the day.
It has become important for people to learn that they are not supposed to sway away with work. Otherwise, people will hurt themselves indefinitely physically as well as mentally. The pandemic has taken a lot of our brain’s space already. If you hoard work over it, you may be playing with your mental peace.
You can refer to 30 Fun Things to Do at Home to get some creative ideas as well.
Make Smarter Decisions
It can certainly be possible that when employees feel overburdened with work, it is because of their own ways of working. Without a proper and efficient work plan and strategy, the pressure of completing the tasks can be your own creation and not something initiated by the employer.
The main aim while working from home should be to work smartly and more efficiently. The key is to not work for longer hours indefinitely, but to work smartly. If we all adopt the right combination of time and management, there will be a lot less to stress about. A sense of discipline and structure can take you a long way.
And if you tread on the path of balance, you will be able to make a positive impact in all aspects. Health and quality-life benefits are just a few to name. You only need to take control over your work. When you successfully practice a balance routine, you will be able to enhance your organizational performance as well as productivity.
Moreover, workers who are successful in attaining a work-life balance work smarter and harder than other employees who tend to feel overworked due to an inability to maintain the balance. So if you still have not been able to find your work-life balance since this pandemic started, now is the time to start working on it. Set some boundaries and stick to them. They will not only benefit you but also your work productivity.
