Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home has become a normal occurrence.
We traded in in-person meetings for Zoom calls, work attire for sweatpants and hoodies, and waiting in traffic for no commute. While these lifestyle swaps are great for some, the question it leaves many workers with is: “How do we establish a regular working routine at home while balancing our daily lives?” After all, when you can no longer leave work at the office, suddenly your home life is permeated with meeting reminders, due dates, and more.
In this article, we’ll delve into the tools that you need to help you create work-life balance while working from home (and how to figure out what kind of workflow works for you.)
Manage Your Time
Time management is crucial in all other areas of our day-to-day routines, and it’s no different when you’re learning how to create a work/life balance while working from home.
When you work from home, you’re free to set your own hours and make those work around family time, exercise, errands, and other day-to-day tasks. The freedom to set your own hours, however, does not mean that you should slack off and work for less time than you said you were going to! If you said you were going to exercise for an hour in the morning and then settle down to work, stick to your plan. Time management tips can be helpful in structuring a work-from-home schedule for yourself so that neither your personal time nor your work time suffers.
Another important part of time management for working from home is taking breaks throughout the day, even if your breaks are only five-to-ten minutes. You have to take those breaks to stay focused and keep your stress levels to a minimum. Encourage your team to do the same. Good mental health, both yours and your team’s, will have better performance results.
Lastly, our final time management tip is organization and keeping track of what needs to be done each day. A planner or a large laminated day calendar can help with this, as they allow you to check things off your to-do-list.
Protect Your Space
When we say protect your space, we mean have a designated area of your home that is reserved solely for work purposes.
A designated workspace at home should consist of your computer, pens and paper, and your planner. Leave your phone and any other distractions in separate areas where you will not be tempted to look at them.
Other ways to protect your space include:
- Putting up signs when you’re working to minimize interruptions
- Selecting a room with a door vs an open floor plan for your home office
- Having a separate work phone that you securely store at the end of each day
Stay Connected
Especially when you’re working remotely, staying connected is non-negotiable when it comes to a successful business.
Why? Because no one works in a silo: teamwork, trust, and open communication is paramount.
A good way to build a connection and relationships between your team members is having a weekly just-for-fun check-in. Send out an invite for an optional virtual Friday happy hour to catch up and celebrate another successful work week to build your team’s relationships with each other (and with you) even further.
Outsource What You Can
If you’re the showrunner of your company, you have a lot of responsibility. This can result in a higher level of stress than you would like.
This is where outsourcing comes in, particularly for the financial side of your business. After all, you’re already juggling working from home: why would you want to add more onto your plate?
Here at Virtual CFO, we help by:
- Building a strong financial foundation for your business
- Strategize with you in terms of both short-term and long-term business scaling
- Handle everything to do with the finance and accounting aspects of your brand
- …And so much more
Integrate These Tips to Create Work-Life Balance While Working From Home (Starting Now!)
Need more advice on striking that ideal work-life balance?
Visit us today to learn more about the tips and tricks we offer for working from home, as well as how we can help you find the right home workflow.