As things continue to return to normalcy in the post-pandemic world, one aspect is for sure here to stay, that is work-from-home jobs. In the early stages of the pandemic, workers were required to move to a remote work setting and nobody truly knew what to expect. Soon after, companies started to realize that many employees began to thrive working from the comfort of their own homes over going to an office. This was due to a much more flexible work schedule that allowed workers to balance their personal lives with their careers. Despite having a more flexible work-life schedule, remote work can still come with some obstacles. We are here to help you maximize your production with our tips on how to thrive in your work-from-home job.
Win Your Morning
With many things in life, you need a good foundation first before you can proceed with the rest. This is the same for your mornings before work. Setting up a consistent morning routine not only gives you a solid foundation to build off for the rest of the day; it helps you start your workday with things that you enjoy doing to ensure you head into work with a clear head. Here are some of our most helpful ways to help you start your morning.
- Establish a Wake-Up Time: While this may be hard to adjust to, the benefits are worth it. Waking up at the same time every day helps moderate your circadian rhythm for those desired times. This means that your body will adjust and have an easier time falling asleep at night as well as getting up in the morning. If you need a little assistance, consider downloading a sleep cycle app to help monitor and track your sleep habits. Using a sleep app can help you identify the best sleep patterns for you.
- Avoid Using Your Phone Right Away: Grabbing your phone first thing in the morning to check your messages or personal emails is a natural reaction, especially since most people use their phone as an alarm clock. Seeing that unfavorable text or social media post to start your day can put you in a state of stress which can ultimately leave you feeling down for the rest of your day.
- Exercise to Start the Day: Aside from the overall health benefits you get from working out, exercising in the morning before work helps you start your day off at a high intensity and on the right foot. Getting your body moving before work not only helps you focus better but relieves stress that you may be carrying. This is due to the endorphins that your brain releases during physical activity. With this, not only can you start your morning off on a healthy note but on a happy one as well.
- Take a Cold Shower: If you have a hard time waking up in the morning, this might be a route you should investigate. Taking a cold shower after you wake up or even after your morning exercise can be beneficial in many aspects; one of which is waking you up. The cold water shocks your body, increasing blood flow and overall circulation. In addition, the cold-water shock also helps you from feeling anxious throughout the day. This process puts your body into a state that produces endorphins to battle those anxious moments when they arise.
Converse With Your Coworkers
Being remote means that you likely spend most of your day at work behind a screen, alone. This makes it very easy to fall into isolation if you’re not careful. If your current position doesn’t require a lot of meetings, take the initiative to set up meetings with your coworkers. Utilize this time to discuss work-related topics or just to converse. While this may not be the same as having an actual in-person conversation with somebody, it gives that sense of interaction that we need from time to time. In addition, most companies will offer some form of messaging platform to communicate with other employees. If video calls aren’t cutting it, this might be a great option for you to include alternative interactions with other employees during your workday. Many companies use apps like Slack, which make it easy to facilitate all your communication needs within the workplace. Find the form of social interaction that you like the most and use it every day to avoid feeling isolated.
Beware of Your Screen Time
Extended periods of time spent behind your screen can cause many different health issues. Most remote employees are unaware of all the aspects of their lives that can be affected by too much screen time.
For starters, your sleep can be affected negatively. Screens, and more specifically the light they emit, impact the section of your brain that creates melatonin. To combat this, make sure you are signing off from work at least an hour or two before you go to bed. Doing this gives your brain enough time to unwind and naturally produce melatonin, ensuring you can sleep soundly through the night. A lack of melatonin can make it difficult to fall asleep or reach a deep sleep.
Secondly, screen time has a heavy impact on your eyes. Screens emit blue light, which over time, can cause your eye health to suffer. Overdoing your screen time can cause dry eyes, macular degeneration, extensive eye strain, and blurred vision. While it seems like we can’t escape screens during our workday, there are ways to limit the amount of blue light we are subjected to. Purchasing a pair of anti-blue light glasses is the best way to stay stylish while protecting your eyes. These glasses block out the harmful lights that have the greatest impact on eye health. Saving your eyes should be a priority, especially if you’re working 40 hours a week behind a computer screen.
Lastly, screen time can impact your posture. It is no secret that when you work from home, most of your day is spent sitting. If you are not mindful of your posture while sitting for extended periods of time, your body will start to take a beating. The most crucial areas of the body that are affected by this are your spine and neck. Slouching in your chair puts ample amounts of stress on your spine as well as your neck. To fix this, practice sitting correctly and take breaks to walk around a little bit or stretch. Correct sitting posture has an abundance of positive effects on you when working from home. Including more energy and less fatigue, better productivity, as well as increased breathing productivity.
Find Your Balance
Even with the flexible work schedule your job can offer, it can still cause some speed bumps when it comes to finding your work and life balance. Because you can make your work office anywhere when you work from home, it can be easy to blur the lines between when it is time to work and when you should relax. To combat this, try to create a dedicated home office space in your home. Doing this gives you that feeling of going to work at the office while staying in the comfort of your home. In addition, this makes it easier on you to cut out the distractions. Simply closing your door and leaving your phone outside can be all you need to scale your productivity levels.
Taking frequent breaks throughout your day is essential to a healthy work-from-home life. Brief breaks from your workday have been shown to boost productivity and focus levels. Here are a couple of our favorite break activities you can try:
- Go outside for a couple of moments and soak up some sun
- Take a moment to run down the street and grab your favorite beverage
- Walk around your house and take a moment to stretch
- Listen to some of your favorite music
Giving yourself a couple of moments to rest between vigorous work tasks is essential not only to how you perform at work but also to your mental and physical health.
Conclusion
It’s completely normal for you to run into issues when working from home. In the grand scheme of things, working from home is still a relatively new route of work. It has only become more popular in recent years due to the pandemic. But it is possible to thrive in a remote setting.
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