Working from home has long been a dream for many people. With the global market growing, the options for remote work are increasing and the number of people working from home is at an all-time high. While this way of working comes with a lot of benefits, it has a few downsides as well. A lot of people run the risk of over-working themselves and end up suffering from burnouts. If you are someone who is working from home and want to avoid such side effects, here are the four most important things to keep in mind:
Write down a schedule
The reason people don’t suffer from burnouts in an office as often as from home is because of the exact schedule they follow. You have an exactly defined time when you go to work and also know when you will finish. This makes it easy to plan your day and devote enough time to relaxing activities. People working from home usually don’t have such a schedule. They just try to get as much work done as possible in a day and oftentimes get caught up in the rush and don’t know when to quit. Making a plan and knowing when it’s time to quit is a good way to avoid this. Simply decide for yourself in advance how much time you want to spend working that day, or how much work you want to get done instead of just doing “as much as you can”.
Define your workspace
Try to avoid moving around from one area to another. Such movement will make it hard to focus and settle down enough in order to get any work done. Instead, you should define your exact working area and stick to it. Start with a desk and a comfortable sitting chair. Position them in a location that has good lighting; if possible, natural light is always best. Being next to a window also adds the possibility of fresh air which can help keep your mood up and you focused on the job. Your working area should be clean without many decorations that you distract you from work. Generally, the more comfortable you feel at your working area, the better your work results will be and the less fatigue you will feel after a good day of work.
Find a partner
A lot of people say that after working as a freelancer for an extended period of time, they start feeling lonely. That is only natural since we as humans are social beings and people who work only from home oftentimes don’t get enough personal interactions with other people. But just because you work from home doesn’t mean that you have to work alone. Find a friend who works at home as well and organize certain days of the week where you get together and work from the same home. Such collaboration won’t replace a professional coworking space but it’s still a nice way to socialize with someone. Also, two people who work together are more likely to remind each other about taking breaks and are therefore less likely to get burned out.
Take a vacation
It’s normal for people who work in an office to take a vacation yet so many of them forget to take a break from work once they get into a remote working environment. Taking a vacation can help reset your mind and is a great way to fight burnouts. Even a few days of vacation will result in much higher productivity once you start working again. Sometimes you might feel the urge to do a little bit of work here and there while on vacation. You should avoid such impulses and really focus on relaxing when you have your time off. Don’t ignore all the positive effects that rest can have on your mind and body. Having a properly planned vacation schedule is just as important as planning your other job-related tasks.
Working from home comes with its own set of challenges. It’s important to address those challenges early on before they lead to burnouts. Even if you are working from home, you need to take your job seriously and plan your hours and workload accordingly so that they don’t have a negative effect on your health.
