Healthy Work From Home Habits
- From A Creative Entrepreneur And Recovering Workaholic
Having boundaries between my work and life is not only important for my mental health, but also my creativity!
start a morning routine that doesn’t involve work
Every morning, I take about an hour and a half to myself before starting work. I get up around 7 am, turn the fireplace on (even in the summer because my husband sets our thermostat to 62 degrees no matter the time of year) and make a cup of coffee. I spend the next hour by the fire reading my devotion, journaling and enjoying my coffee. This is always my favorite time of day.
take an actual break in the middle of the work day
This sounds intuitive, but if I am not intentional about it, I find myself working through lunch with my laptop open. There’s hardly a time of day I am not thinking about my business - but what small business owner doesn’t? Because of this, these intentional breaks in my day are essential for my mental health and creativity. Somedays this is eating lunch without my computer or phone near me. Somedays it means working out.
have “no-work” zones
Most of the time I work in my studio. But, occasionally I find myself working on the coach, at the dining room table, or even outside on a nice day. There is, however, one room I don’t allow any work in. My Bedroom. I am tempted to crawl in bed with my laptop and a glass of wine and work on little things before bed. However, I intentionally avoid this inclination. I have found it is important to try and keep the distinction between work and life. Doing so is nearly impossible if I don’t even have a room in my house where I don’t work in.
deep work over busy work
When I’m home, there are a million distractions. (my phone, laundry, cleaning, etc.) And, a conversation with a dear friend and life coach, Kristen Such, really changed how I manage my days and tasks while working from home. She introduced me to the concept of Deep Work. What is deep work? Great Question! Deep work is “uninterrupted, focused work. No emails, tabs, instagram, notifications … Focus on one task, all in.” For me, this is usually about an hour to an hour and a half where I have to put my phone out of sight and truly focus on ONE task. I am the queen of starting one task, and while doing that task I think of something else I need to do and start working on that … before I know it I am working on 5 things at once and nothing is getting done. Deep work changed that for me.
(Kristen’s Productivity & Perfectionism Guide on IG - take a look, it’s gold)
only respond between 9am-5pm, monday - friday.
I remind myself that I do not have to answer emails like I answer texts. I initially made myself available 24/7. I answered every email as soon as it came in no matter what day or time, eliminating any boundary between working and living. When I see an email from a prospective customer, or my accountant or whatever it may be, I try to answer promptly if it is between the 9-5 window. If it is the weekend or 9 o’clock at night, I remind myself - it can wait.
When I first began my business, I had zero work life boundaries or balance. I mean that literally - my bedroom was my office and I worked in my bed until I couldn’t hold my eyes 7 days of the week. I was working non-stop trying to start and grow my business. I had no time for myself (even though this business was for me) and this brought on a lot of stress and anxiety. Then, at a point of complete overwhelm I decided I needed to change the way I worked from home. These 5 things are just a few of the many strategies that helped me establish a healthier work from home life, and ultimately a healthier state of mental being.
If you have any other helpful tips fro working from home, I would love to hear them! Drop a comment or send me a message :)
