How To Separate Home From Work Life

Working from home can really take its toll. It is easy to blur the line between work and home life and the balance you work so hard to achieve under normal circumstances can really become blurred.

Here we offer some tips to help with separating work life from home life while having to work remotely.

Keep Office Hours

It is really important when working from home to maintain office hours. If you usually begin work at 9 and finish at 5.30 stick to that schedule.

Keep Regular Breaks

The same thing goes for your usual break times. Take a short break in the morning, an hour for lunch and a short break in the afternoon. It is important to both break up your day and to maintain the feeling of actually being in work.

Don’t Overwork Or Over Schedule

It is very easy to overwork when working from home. You should be careful not to do this. You shouldn’t be trying to fit in more work from home than you would usually do in a regular workday. This will lead to burnout and mental exhaustion. Keep your regular work ethic up and work as you normally would. Working from home doesn’t have to mean working to the bone!

Ignore Distractions

Dirty dishes, a messy kitchen, un-hoovered floors, all of this can wait until after office hours. After all, if you were in the office you wouldn’t even know about these things so try to ignore this type of distraction as best you can.

Create Boundaries

Try to make sure that everyone else in the house respects your work boundaries. While this can often be difficult, especially where small children are concerned, it is really important that you maintain the work atmosphere whilst engaging in work.

Leave Your Work Space

At the end of each day, get up and physically leave the space you have been working at all day. Go for a walk if possible or even just step outside for a moment and breathe the fresh air. This is important for your mental health and to help you mentally detach from work and renter into home life.

While these tips won’t necessarily guarantee a full separation. Following them might help and certainly can’t hurt your home/work balance.