Are you feeling exhausted by all the work from home (WHF) and experiencing irritation due to all the workload? Due to COVID-19 we all have isolated ourselves from the outer world and from our own regular lives. For those who used to work remotely, this is not new but if you are dealing with the situation for the first time, here’s how to master it-
- Get organized: Get organised with your laptop, diary, pen, cell phone and chargers in place. If you are in a noisy house, invest in a pair of noise cancellation headphones. Use a mouse for better efficiency. If your spouse is on WFH too, share time slots and chores related to children. Organise routines and rules for other disturbances like the maid and the doorbell.
- Set your work area: The most fundamental step towards working at home is to choose a perfect place for yourself where you are comfortable enough to work and make sure there are no distractions. It is very important to maintain proper hygiene at your workplace as you will be working there daily. Apart from these, choose the spot you feel comfortable sitting in.
- Schedule your day- Plan your day beforehand. This can be done by having a check-list of all the tasks written in front of you. Schedule you time according to the task schedule and try to keep some vacant time in between so that in case you get any urgent work to do that day , it can be done without procrastination. In case you don’t have a schedule for any day, don’t try multitasking because it will kill productivity.
- Communication first: The key to success at WFH lies in prioritising communication. Your team and manager need to know that you are available and taking WFH seriously. Thus, you should prefer to call your colleagues on video call or chat for routine queries instead of sending an e-mail. Ask for regular performance evaluations from your manager and get adequate FaceTime with him/her. If you are alone at home, you run the risk of social isolation. Participate in remote non-work related video hangouts with your team. As a manager, share more information than usual with your team, provide them with the technology they need, organise social interactions and discuss how they are coping with the situation.
- Distance yourself from people whenever necessary: Sometimes, people in our houses can be the biggest distraction for us and in order to avoid that, you can make some ground rules and tell them about your work timings so that they are not around you while you are working. Assume that you are in your office working on your regular timings.
- Don’t overburden yourself: Don’t try to be perfect on day one. Expect targets to take a hit while you settle down. To crack the productivity code, schedule the toughest tasks for morning and calls in the afternoon. Work in bite size chunks of 25 minutes—also known as the Pomodoro technique. Thereafter, stand up and walk around for 5 minutes, preferably in sunlight and fresh air. Use a music list or a background sound on your speaker if it helps you focus. When you are productive and happy, you can enjoy and appreciate the perks of WFH better.
- Frame boundaries: Frame some rules and boundaries to protect your personal life from work that may creep into it. Do not carry work away from your desk and do not interrupt family time or social time to complete pending work. Increase your social interactions with friends to get rid of loneliness, boredom and to compensate for lack of human contact.
- Stick to a routine: Just as your day starts, take a shower to keep yourself fresh throughout the day, change your clothes to office outfit and get a mini walk session in your home itself just to make yourself more awake and then repeat every activity which you do to keep yourself consistent throughout the time till you are supposed to work from home.
- Leave phone and laptops: Once you are done with your work, don’t touch your phone or laptop for at least some time to give yourself a break as all the work was done by you through your technology only. Your mind also needs some break.
- Practice self care: It is suggested that you be productive during this isolation period but you should not let the work stress you or intervene in your personal life, and this boundary can be built just by you and you have to make sure you take proper nutrition, maintain a good workout schedule and take mini-breaks in between to keep yourself fresh and healthy.
We all are getting mentally affected by this lockdown but that is okay as long as we just keep ourselves healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you are feeling exhausted, you can try yoga or different exercises to freshen yourself up by following work-related guidelines mentioned above. By following these steps, you will surely see yourself living this isolation period in a more healthy and happy way.
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