Working From Home: How To Take Care Of Your Productivity And Mental Health?

With the rapid spread of coronavirus in 185 countries, remote work has become a necessity for most companies and employees.

In fact, Time has declared this coronavirus outbreak as the World’s Largest Work-From-Home Experiment.

While working at home has its advantages, there are certain pitfalls to it, too, especially when there is little to no time for people to transition to their new working environments. Add to it the closing down of schools, lockdowns, no socializing opportunities, no gymming, and the situation turns even tenser.

Let’s understand the psychological downfalls of remote working along with actionable tips and strategies that will help you avoid these psychological states.

Why do people feel stressed?

Working from home diminishes the boundaries between work and home life, especially when your bed is your workplace. There’s always more work to be done, and so those nights you spent dozing off in your bed after office turns into nights where you keep tapping away at the keyboard.

Inevitably, the stress and pressure of never unplugging from work catches up with you, and you start feeling burnt out.

WAYS TO AVOID THIS:

• Set fixed working hours and breaks – Without fixed working hours, you might get pulled to reply to just one email or complete one paragraph of the article before sleeping. And before you know it, it’s 2 in the night, and you’ve been working for four hours at a stretch.

So, plan your day. If you feel you’re at your productive best during those regular office timings, stick to it. Schedule breaks in between. (They actually make you more productive) During those breaks, don’t keep sitting at your desk. Walk away from your laptop. Give your eyes a rest, listen to some music, or have a steaming cup of coffee. If you are short on coffee and energy drinks, hop online and buy these drinks for your rejuvenating breaks before stocks get exhausted.

• Set a designated workspace- Having a fixed workspace, be it an entire room, corner of your desk or the kitchen table helps draw boundaries between your work and home life. It ensures you get into work mode when you’re in that space and unplug whenever you get away from it.

Make sure you have all the needed work from home supplies like printer supplies, ink and toner, computer, mobile and laptop accessories in stock for any emergencies. If you don’t, buying them online is a good idea before they are finished.

Despite popular belief, work from home has been prevalent since ages. The following famous personalities made sure they had a designated workspace in their homes.

Charles Dickens wrote the famous classic novels “A Tale of Two Cities, “Great Expectations”, and more from his home office.

Founding father John Adams practiced law in the kitchen of his farmhouse in Massachusetts

Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist worked from his home office in Alabama

• Managing multiple responsibilities – While you escape those noisy colleagues, you are faced with newer distractions at home. A family member popping up at your work desk with a question like, “Where is the bottle of ketchup?” can be frustrating, especially when you’re working on something important.

To avoid this, you could set up a signal (wearing your headphones) that acts as a ‘Do not Disturb’ sign. Talk to them about how a small distraction breaks your focus and makes work harder. If you have kids at home, involve them in your routine. For example, eat lunch together at 12 and then for an hour, while you work, they’ll draw or read some books.

• Take care of your health – Working from home can entice you to change your sleeping patterns.

“Let me watch this movie tonight. I don’t have to reach the office anyway tomorrow.”

Sorry to burst your bubble, but you should avoid this trap. Science says that going to sleep and waking up every day at the same time helps you get good sleep, stay healthy, perform better, and stay happy.

Also, don’t miss out on proper lunch and exercising. Just because you don’t have your colleagues calling you for a lunch break doesn’t mean you skip it. Join those online Yoga sessions with your friends and avoid giving in to unhealthy food.

Why do people feel lonely?

While you get rid of workplace distractions, you miss those watercooler conversations and chit-chatting with your colleagues during the lunch break. No matter how many Slack conversations you’re a part of, this disconnectivity may make you feel lonely and isolated, especially if you’re alone in your home.

In fact, a study conducted by Buffer revealed that loneliness is the biggest struggle for remote workers.

 WAYS TO AVOID THIS:

• Have online fun sessions with your colleagues – Technology is indeed our savior in times like this. With a plethora of videoconferencing and social media tools to your aid, you could bring back the fun parts of that office environment.

Have online fun sessions with your favorite colleagues. If you can’t have lunch with them in your canteen at the office, what’s stopping you from having a Zoom call with them during lunchtime?

• Schedule an hour for socializing everyday – You can’t go for late-night drinks or go on dinner dates with your friends. But that doesn’t need to stop you from socializing.

Play games with your family at night or start watching an episode of some series every night. If you’re stuck alone at home, don’t worry. There are a lot of online games you can play with your friends or family, or you could watch the latest season of Money Heist with your friends on the Netflix Party.

• Reach out to people who may need help – These are tough times. Some people might be suffering a lot due to anxiety or loneliness. Reach out to them. Keep in contact with your peers and friends. Share your struggles. In the process, you may end up helping each other.

Why do people feel depressed?

Stress and loneliness could lead a person to depression. This could even happen due to the absence of good things to look forward to. You start thinking that the future is bleak, and there is going to be no prospect of promotions, encouragement from supervisors, recovery from this pandemic, and so on.

WAYS TO AVOID THIS:

• Set milestones – Break your work into milestones. Include even tasks like cleaning the dishes, laundry, etc. into this. For example, if your sink is free of dirty dishes for 5 consecutive times in a week, treat it as an accomplishment. You could set rewards like a candy bar, an hour of Netflix, a hot plate of garlic noodles, etc. Anything that you like.

Do the same for your work tasks. This makes sure you have something to look forward to and also keeps reminding you that you’re accomplishing things.

• Create a to-do list- Planning your day helps you to stick to your work and avoid those negative thoughts. It keeps your mind occupied. It enables you to focus on the one thing in your control; the present.

At the end of the day, the happiness that comes from a finished to-do list is amazing, isn’t it?

• Avoid consuming too much news – Most news stories that we read daily are filled up with natural disasters, conflicts, cases of violence. According to psychologists, consuming such negative news stories could aggravate our worries that are not even related to the content of those news stories.

Sitting in front of the TV for hours, watching the news about coronavirus is even worse. Mary McNaughton Cassill, in an article, says that being surrounded by global negative or dangerous information 24*7 makes us assume that things are more vulnerable and dark than they actually are. This phenomenon is often referred to as ‘Mean World Syndrome.’

So, stay updated, but don’t stick to watching or reading the news the whole day. It’s also important not to consume such news first thing in the morning. Keep it for a later time in the day.

Conclusion:

Work from home can be a beautiful experience if you get it right. Following these tips at the start might not be easy, but with continuous practice and refining these tips to suit your needs, it’ll start coming naturally to you.

And if you fail, always know that there’s a brand new day waiting for you tomorrow. Pace yourself for it.

And remember, as the best way to prevent COVID-19 is social distancing, stay home, stay safe, and stay healthy with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

What is your favorite work from home strategy? Let us know.