When you originally started working from home there were a lot of things that you learned about yourself and how much time you had for other activities. You may have noticed that since your commute is not existent you can sleep in more and take time making breakfast or you realized that you could invest in ways to change the mood of your home. Furthermore, you felt that life was going to get so much easier because you could schedule things the way you want it.
After a few weeks of the repetitive schedule, you may have noticed that it was hard to separate your work life from your personal life. Your life has now blended work life and your home life to one. It can be hard to focus on work when you have something else you can be doing, and it can be hard to stop working because work is always going to be in your sight.
If you are working from home and have found that it is becoming harder and harder to see between work and home life, here are four tips to help separate work and home life.
1) Prioritize your calendar
It is imperative that the first step to being able to draw the line between work and home life is prioritizing your calendar. If you do not have a schedule yet, I would recommend creating one with either a pen or pencil or with the device you are reading this off of. List out what your normal day looks like including work and personal activities throughout the house.
Are you a morning or night person?
If you wake up early in the morning and love to start your day earlier rather than later, it is important to schedule your day accordingly. Get up between 5 am to 6 am and start your day then, which will allow you to end your workday around two or three in the afternoon leaving the rest of your night with your family. Either way, set apart one section of the day for work and one section for home life.
If you are working continuously all throughout the day without sticking to a set plan, it will cause you to blend your two lives into one.
2) Set reminders to stop work at specific times
This is one of the most important parts of creating a perfect and healthy plan for working from home. Find a time where you can set a reminder to tell you to stop working every day. Creating a specific time that you need to step away from work will force you to start defining the line between your two lives.
Use the extra space in your home
If you have the luxury to have your own space for an office in your home, make sure to keep that place for work and not personal life as well. If that room starts to blend the two lives together you will start to see yourself fall into an unhealthy routine.
Finding the correct time to check out of work and step into your home life will be so beneficial in your time working from home.
3) Keep your laptop/work phone at your home office setup
If you have a separate phone or laptop for work you need to leave them inside of your office space at all times. If you find yourself sitting on the couch with your family and plugging away on your work laptop, you have found yourself in an unhealthy situation. There should always be time for yourself personally and time for work, leaving your work electronics in your office space will allow you to create time for both.
Do you have a designated space for work?
It is totally normal and understandable to not have the perfect space in your home to work from home, but that is the case it is time to get creative. It is totally possible to create a spot in your home where you know if you are there that means you should be working. If your work area is near the living room, that is okay, just make sure it is not blending in with other personal areas.
4) Consider removing work access from your personal phone
This can be a hard one to do as it needs a lot of will to do. Removing work access from your personal phone is so beneficial because it allows you to live in the present when you are supposed to. If you call it a day for work and it is time to hang out with your family, the worst thing to have is a bunch of dings from your boss about work. You want to be able to focus on your family and call work done for the day.
Conclusion
Working from home can cause a lot of self-discipline but can be a very helpful thing in your life. It can give you more time to spend on other things because there is no commute, or it can give you more time to sleep because you work better on a lot of rest. Consider using these four tips that should help separate work and home life while working at home.
Ben Tejes is the Co-Founder and CEO of Ascend Finance, a platform to help people achieve self-improvement in the area of personal finance. He helped create Ascend’s Chapter 13 payment estimator and the bankruptcy means test calculator. He writes on topics such as Filing Bankruptcy in Utah, Can You File Bankruptcy on Medical Bills, and Chapter 13 Payment Too High to help people get out of debt and experience financial freedom.
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