Working vs Private Space during the Lockdown: 7 Pro Tips

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Working vs Private Space during the Lockdown 7 Pro Tips

At the beginning of 2020, only 3.6% of Americans worked from home full time. However, the tide changed as the year progressed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most people started working from home, as lockdowns were ordered in different states across the country. Because of this, close to 50% of the American workforce started working from home. 

However, this came with one major challenge—finding the right work-life balance. Most people still have the challenge of finding this balance during the lockdown. In this post, we shall discuss 7 pro tips to help you navigate through this challenge. 

Start your day with a routine that’s not focused on your work

One of the best ways to have a good work-life balance is starting your day with activities that you like, as well as doing things that will leave you feeling relaxed before your work schedule starts. Well, the first thing that most people start thinking about is work when they wake up—however, that can wait. 

So, if your normal work-life balance comes from slotting in non-work activities to your normal workday, you should set this straight and then create a work schedule. Here are few things that you should consider doing in the morning before you start working:

  • Make yourself a cup of coffee
  • Take a morning shower—this will leave you feeling refreshed and ready for the day
  • Take a walk in your garden, yard park, and make sure you don’t carry your phone with you

Create a fitness routine and follow it to the later

If you find that working from home during quarantine is draining you, create some time for a workout. While most people don’t consider this important, it can change your life—especially if you commit specific time during the day to work towards your fitness goals. 

One of the best ways to concentrate on fitness while working from home is starting a “step count challenge,” tracking your bike rides or morning runs, or even checking a box every day for online yoga classes. 

Avoid checking your emails from the bed

If you love checking Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds while in bed, never do this to your work emails. While working to achieve a good working vs. private space while working from home, there are times when you will have to leave work emails at your designated workstation. 

Now, since you work from home, it’s important to consider if you want to connect your work email with your personal phone. If you don’t need that email now, just mute the notifications or uninstall the email app. On the other hand, if you have a designated company phone, always make sure that you leave it in your workstation or living room—don’t bring it with you to your bedroom. Your bedroom should be your resting place—not an alternative workstation. When you understand this, you will get the work-life balance that you need. 

Indicate your online and offline hours in your communication tools

Now, when you establish a daily schedule that favors you and your team, publicize this schedule on different tools. This will make sure that the team members who are in different time zones and locations are aware of that time. 

If you use certain tools like Slack, you can set your availability to make sure that you don’t get a notification during certain times of the day. Besides, you can add your work schedule on Google Calendar, and this will help you avoid committing to events happening during your working period. When you publicize your working hours, your team members will be more respectful of your private time, and they will need to schedule a meeting with you, rather than sending you messages during this period. 

Create a workstation that separates your private life from work

The professionals from Allshore, dedicated .NET developers staffing company emphasize on the importance of having separate spaces for play and work while working from home—otherwise, you’ll end up having unwanted delays. Thus, you need to create a home workstation, free from distractions if you want to be productive. This can be a corner of your family room, bedroom, or living room. 

Once you create your workstation, you should use it for work purposes only. And to get that desired work-life balance, avoid going to your workstation—even during the weekends. This will help you to mentally differentiate how your weekends and weekdays feel. 

Make after-work plans

Working and living in the same space doesn’t mean you cannot make plans for after work. At times, it makes no difference to step out of your workstation to your living room or bedroom. And, this is one of the major reasons why most people tend to overwork themselves when working from home. 

However, you can still have plans within your home, which will make you feel relaxed after the long working hours. Some of these plans include watching a movie or working out—it should be something you look forward to after you are done with your work. However, you should ensure that you stick to whatever after-work plans you choose.

Continue networking and creating new relationships while working remotely

Now, once you love sitting in your workstation and working from your home office, it’s time to start networking with other like-minded individuals. While most people claim that it’s hard to network from home, you can achieve this by socializing with other people online. Basically, there are a lot of ways to get the job done—from catching up with your friends to staying connected, and creating time to network.