How To Balance Personal Life, While Working From Home!

The new ‘work from home’ responsibility has warranted many trial and error experiences when it comes to balancing personal life and work in the same environment. 

Now, if you can relate, physically going into an office can help distract you from the one thousand things lingering through your mind as you work, however; it becomes harder to separate personal life thoughts from work, if you have to work from home. 

This post will share the absolute 3 best tips that will definitely boost your ability to balance your personal life as you work from home. Let’s get to it.

1. Incorporate Breaks Into Your Schedule

Completing tasks can become a hassle if you are mentally checked out. One way that I combat distractions is by incorporating breaks or ‘rewards’ as I call them, into my schedule. There are many ways to incorporate breaks into your schedule; one that works for me is taking a break every time I complete a task. This can look like, if you have to go through many emails, dedicate yourself to finishing the task then take a 10 min reward once you finish. If that becomes too frequent, or not frequent enough you can adjust as needed. Other practical ways you can incorporate breaks is by splitting longer tasks into two, and taking a reward break midway through completion. Again, this tip works best when customized to fit your needs, but as soon as you incorporate breaks into your schedule, you will work more efficiently and be more productive. 

2. Utilize Professional Work Boundaries

Setting professional boundaries can be a very challenging and sort of intimidating experience, (until you get used to it). It’s such a needed habit to incorporate that I wrote an entire blog post on this topic alone, here.

Why setting boundaries in the workplace is so important is because as humans, we are inherently self fulfilling beings, which causes many people to walk over others in order to fulfill their own needs, p.s. this doesn’t stop in the workplace. You have to set boundaries to protect your peace and assertively create a healthy work environment that works best for you. Practical ways to utilize professional work boundaries can include taking a full lunch. If you have an hour lunch, and it doesn’t take an hour to finish your food, utilize your break to clear your mind and prepare yourself to work for the latter half of your day. This also means, if you don’t have to take a lunch in the area that you work, don’t. Find a different area to enjoy your lunch whether that means sitting outside while you eat (weather permitting), eating in the kitchen if you don’t work in the kitchen or finding a clean corner to enjoy your meal. Separating your eating location from your work location can really boost your productivity. For more practical tips on setting professional boundaries in the workplace, check out my blog post, here.

3. Discipline Yourself To Focus On The Task At Hand

Focusing on tasks should be a blog post of its own, lol. There are so many factors that go into why it can be difficult to focus on one task at a time, but the more we discipline our mind to do so, the more productive we become. Productivity can help free our time, so it’s best to get your work done so you can get your personal day started or finished depending on your sleep schedule.

One way to focus on one task is to create a list of the top 3 tasks you need to complete per work day. If your list consists of the main three things you need to focus on, then you won’t create unrealistic expectations which can trigger the need to procrastinate. Keep your list short and concise, and reward yourself by checking it off as you go. As you get the hang of it, you will definitely boost your productivity. One tip to enhance your focus outside of work so you can focus during work is to read a book. I’ve found that when I read a book, not just an article since it’s quick bits of information, but a long form book that requires patience, I find that I discipline my mind to focus more. The more I read books, the more I discipline my mind to focus on one thing at a time. It’s so important that we not clutter our minds with a thousand things to do to ensure that we are creating work that’s excellent, done to the best of our ability; as well as not stressing ourselves out by how much work needs to get done. The more you discipline your mind to focus on one thing at a time, the more you can efficiently complete your task and boost your productivity. 

When you discipline yourself to focus on one task, you in turn quiet the personal life thoughts that so easily distract you from your work. I guarantee you, disciplining your mind will help you better balance your personal and work life. 

This was such a fun post to write because I understand the importance of balancing personal life from work life and know that incorporating these three tips can definitely help you balance your personal work life as well. Share with me your journey in balancing your work life by commenting below or on my socials @simplyshardae_, I hope to hear from you soon. 

Simply,

Shardae