With COVID-19, most of our whole work routines have changed, going from in-office to in our own homes. Although working from home allows more flexibility, it can also easily blur the lines between your work and personal life. Being at home can make it easier for us to start working earlier, finish later and sacrifice the parts of the day that nurture our wellbeing and mental health.
To help you get back on track, SEEK has provided us with top tips to follow at home to achieve a good work-life balance:
- Examine your situation. Think about what your most important values are and how you want to spend your time. For example, forcing yourself to have a lunch break several times a week to exercise or chat with a friend.
- Manage other people’s expectations. Set boundaries by telling colleagues and clients when you will and won’t be working, so they don’t expect you to be available 24/7. And be honest about your personal needs. Let your boss know which regular activities in your personal life are non-negotiable, whether it’s putting your children to bed or doing yoga.
- Take care of your health. Ensure you get enough sleep and exercise by including it in your routine, and make sure to reward yourself for your hard work by treating yourself every now and then.
- Learn to say no. If you need to work late constantly just to get by, let your boss know that your workload is unsustainable.
- Plan fun activities for your personal time. Get organised with family and friends, to ensure your personal time is fulfilling. Connecting digitally is important to a lot of us right now but try to get some down time away from that as well.
Follow these five tips to help you organise your routine in a way that helps you have time to focus on other parts of your life besides work.
Let us know how these tips worked for you in the comments!