Working from home might have been a regular thing for some, but with the outbreak of the pandemic, almost every company is forced to compromise, which means both employers and employees have to work from home. It can be challenging for employees to successfully create working boundaries at home while maintaining the motivation to execute their tasks. However, with this article, you’ll learn tips for creating boundaries while working from home.
Single out an office space
If you’re new to this whole working from home situation, you need to be careful not to fall into the habit of working at any spot you can plug your PC – that’s a sure road to inefficiency. You have to designate an office space that’s comfortable for you and stick to that spot.
You might already know this, but one of the major differences between going to work and working from home is the abundance of distractions later. You could easily lose the motivation to work while working from home. This is why you need a particular space where you can easily shield out most distractions while you work. This helps with habit tracking and productivity. You don’t want to be relocating from the couch to the bed to the dining room.
Communicate with those you live with
If you have a spouse, child, or roommate, you’ll have to make them understand the new development and how which part of the house you want to use as your working area. Failure to do this can have frustrating effects on your work performance. There’re several videos online where a half-naked spouse or kid stroll into a video meeting with clients or employers.
You can’t mark out a space for your work without telling the people you live with. A closed-door might not be enough to make your own working space. Regardless of the number of people in your home or your home’s size, communication is essential and drives motivation. You can even go as far as reminding them in the morning on days you have a video meeting with colleagues or clients. Use any communication strategy that works best for you; the possibility of interference with your work largely depends on it.
Understand and capitalize on your productive working hours
This might be a challenging factor for some as a change in the environment could easily affect productivity. For most people, working from 9 to 5 is the norm and generally seen as productive hours. But, the case is different when working from home. Staying fully at home will automatically change your schedule.
You need to understand your productive hours AT HOME and construct your working schedule around them. Understanding your working hours will help you with goal setting and goal tracking. If you work when your brain is more active, you don’t need to find motivation elsewhere.
Learn to say NO
When you are at your workplace, people can’t just call you and tell you they are bringing their kids to your office to help watch over them for a few hours. That’s so ridiculous, it is. But now that you’re at home 24/7, whether you’re working or not, they don’t see any reason not to ask for such favors. Not until you tell them.
It might seem like it’s something you can manage, but if the freelancers you know can attest to how the most passive distraction can throw you off focus for hours. For proper stress management and efficiency, learn to say NO to favors that will interfere with your working hours. Whether working from home or going to the office, work is work and will always demand 100 percent focus.
Take breaks
Unless you work for straight 8 hours at the office, there’s no other reason to do the same at home. To boost your motivation to work better, you have to try as much as possible to reflect your office working schedule on your home working schedule. With time you can perform better while feeling comfortable in your home.
If you get an hour’s break in between at the office, you should do the same at home.
Schedule downtime
This means you should designate a particular alone time and protect it just as you would for an important meeting or deadline. This shouldn’t be less than an hour. It serves as a goal tracker, whereby you sit back and observe your progress and reshape your goal setting where necessary.
However, it might be close to impossible to take an hour break each day if you have kids. But you don’t have to leave the house entirely. Just time alone with yourself in the room is enough to boost your motivation and help with your stress management.
