Over the past few years, the ability to work from home has become more and more common, and for many, will become their new normal. There are so many benefits to working from home – you no longer have a long commute, you can work from anywhere, and you can stay in those comfy sweatpants that you never want to change out of.
While working from home has so many amazing perks, it can also become hard to truly disconnect from your job and prioritize work life balance. If you are not prioritizing a balance between your work life and your home life, you will start to burn out and feel the effects on your mental health. It is absolutely vital that you disconnect from your work at the end of a day so that you can truly unplug, unwind, and enjoy all that life has to offer!
If you are finding it difficult to fully unplug from your work from home job, here are some tips on how you can best disconnect:
1. Set boundaries.
First and foremost, it is important that you set boundaries at your job. When it comes boundaries, these can vary depending on what you do for work and what your personal life is like. For example, if you have children, a boundary may be that you want to be able to drive them to school every day or pick them up. In this case, you would need to let your coworkers know that you must step away briefly during those times each day. By setting boundaries, you are also making it known that you cannot be available to work 24/7, which will help to avoid burnout.
2. Do not respond to emails that are not urgent after hours.
On the theme of setting boundaries, if it is extremely late at night or early in the morning, do not feel the need to respond to emails unless they are extremely urgent. Of course, emergencies do pop up every now and then, and they will need immediate attention. Overall, make sure you are able to assess what is immediate and what can wait until proper work hours.
3. Remove work from your view at the end of the day.
If you have a designated space in your home where you are working every day, make sure at the end of the day that you are closing your laptop and keeping it out of your view so that you can really relax.
Find time to move your body throughout the day. If you are able to, try and take breaks throughout the day and go for a quick walk or get a fast workout in. Prioritizing the time to move your body during the workday and get in a quick sweat will help to keep your endorphins up and to avoid getting too stressed out! Moving your body at the end of a workday is also a great way to unwind.
4. Create a routine for yourself.
If you are finding it hard to step away from your computer at the end of the day, try creating a routine for yourself that requires you to, at least for a few hours. Whether that is booking your favorite workout class, making dinner plans, or planning to run some errands, anything can help in terms of making sure you unplug.
5. Disconnecting from your work at the end of the day is not only important, but it is necessary.
If you are finding yourself working around the clock, you are greatly impacting your quality of life which will affect your mental health and affect your ability to do your job efficiently and effectively.
