Seven tips for working productively from home

Events of the past two years have blurred the lines between a balanced work and home life more than ever before, with the pandemic causing many remote workers to experience burnout and anxiety due to an inability to ‘switch off’. 

 

For those continuing to work remotely and can relate to the struggle of finding a healthy work/life balance, the team at performance marketing platform affise have compiled the following list of tips on how to work productively from home, whilst maintaining an all-important social life and relaxation time: 

1 Prioritise your time

If you have lots of different tasks and deadlines to manage, it can easily become overwhelming and lead you to end up taking on more than you can handle. 

That’s why it’s essential to prioritise your tasks based on importance and urgency, to help you decide where best to allocate your time. If possible, try to delegate work to another member of your team, and be honest with others about how long a task is likely to take instead of overpromising and under-delivering. 

 

2 Take your allocated breaks

It can be tempting to work through your lunch break ‘just to finish off that one task’, but skipping this each day can quickly lead to burnout.  

Allowing yourself to take your well-deserved lunch hour to relax or even get away from your desk and stretch your legs will make you much more productive and focused for the rest of your day.

 

3 Set yourself a working hour limit

It’s important to stick to your set working hours, especially if you’re working from home and can be flexible on when you start and finish. 

Working an extra hour or two most nights, or  getting into the unhealthy habit of replying to emails before bed can blur the boundaries between your work and your home life and could lead to you resenting or even hating your job.

 

4 Make time for your personal life

When you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed with work, it’s tempting to continue working into your free time to complete tasks, but making time for a fulfilled personal life with your family and friends is important for your overall well being. So switch off from work, do something you enjoy to relax and dedicate time to your personal relationships. 

 

5 Allocate a designated workspace 

Separating your workspace from the areas of the home you relax in is crucial to keeping a good work/life balance. 

For example, if you’ve been working on your laptop from the sofa all day, when it comes to your downtime, you might not feel relaxed in the space you’ve spent the day taking calls and responding to emails from. Try to work at a desk in a spare room if you have one, and keep your bedroom and living room as areas to relax in.   

6 Take your holidays 

With deadlines and responsibilities spread across the year, it can sometimes feel like there’s never a good time to take your holiday days. 

But it’s essential that you do, and that you make time to enjoy yourself. Remember, your business isn’t going to fall apart without you for a week or two. Booking a proper break from work where you can relax and recharge is vital for preventing burnout and having something to look forward to and focus on. 

 

7 Don’t have your work emails or messenger set up on your phone

Having your work email or messenger set up on your phone makes it impossible to shut off from work. 

If it’s your day off or you’re relaxing at night and a notification appears on your phone it’s tempting to take a quick look, but if the content is something problematic, it can cause you unnecessary stress outside of working hours.