10 ways to improve work-life balance while working from home

1. Meetings, meetings, and more meetings

The big shift in our post-pandemic world is that most of these meetings have become virtual and home-based, resulting in a toll on our physical and mental health. Many people are suffering through longer working days, filled with back-to-back video conference calls and meetings.

• Can you cut the video channel on certain meetings and go for a walk to combat the serious ‘sitting disease’ caused by a highly sedentary day?

• Can you finish all meetings at 10 or 5 minutes to the hour to take a breather?

• Can you try and have a meeting-free day at least one day a week to gain some space to focus?

2. Take some time to reflect

But hold on a minute. What about thinking? During a meeting, we think when reading or writing an email and, of course, during calls and PowerPoint presentations, too. But I am referring to dedicated thinking here – deep work on the tough problems. Former AOL chief executive, Tim Armstrong, considered the key metric for his executives to be ‘10% thinking time’. That’s right – they had to formally commit to 10% of their weekly time as being dedicated to thinking.

I’m sure you work many hours in a day, but what percentage of that time is actually deep work? And here’s a related question: when and where do you do your best thinking?

Before the current pandemic, typical responses might have included ‘during the daily commute’, ‘while exercising’, ‘while walking the dog’, ‘just before sleeping’, or even ‘in the shower’. In many cases, anywhere and everywhere – apart from the office!

Now that some of us are working from home, it’s all too easy to take many of these challenges beyond working there, which means our overall work-life balance and wellbeing begin to suffer.

3. Build back the routines and rituals

So, build back the routines and rituals that have been taken away in recent months. Perhaps you don’t need to travel to the office, but could you take a walk around the block after breakfast before logging on for the day to ready your mind for work?

Try to create distance between the space where you work at home, eat and relax. If you have a spare room for an office, great, but even if you have to use the kitchen or living room table for work, try changing your position, so you’re facing a different direction, or even tape off part of the table for work and non-work.

Make sure you close your laptop and put away your work equipment at the end of each day to mark a distinction between work and personal time. Such little tweaks that create headspace do pay off.

Finally, sitting excessively also creates behavioral states associated with powerlessness, so walk around your home when you can (even during meetings!) to improve positivity.

Take a moment to reflect and ask yourself what you do every day. Then try and take some of that time back for just you – and watch your workday benefit, too.

4. ‘Done’ is better than perfect

5. Eat your frogs

If you’re struggling, try the frog technique. Do your most dreaded task or that thing you’ve been putting off for ages first (doctor’s appointment, creating that report, or having to have that conversation with someone). Doing it at the start of the day will give you a real sense of accomplishment and leave you on a roll, ready to tackle whatever comes next.

6. The fake commute

As much as most of us hate the long drive to the office, or perhaps having our face buried in someone’s armpit on a busy train, there is something to be said for your commute being good for your work-life balance.

It punctuates our working day and gives us time to decompress and separate our working life from everything else. If you are struggling to get into the right frame of mind to start work, or even if you’re struggling to switch off at the end of the day, try a fake commute.

It can be as simple as walking out your door and around the block at the start and end of the day to create the punctuation, space, and definition you need.

7. Socializing

8. Embrace the abnormal

Are you a morning person? Great! Use it to your advantage. Make your morning a special time when you can get the most important things done to set you up for the day, whether that’s a little bit of time with the kids, perhaps a workout, time spent on a hobby, or maybe even working (if that’s your fancy!)

Same with your evenings. If that’s when you’re firing on all cylinders, then maybe use the start of your day for meetings and admin and the end of the day for focused tasks or the hobbies you want to give extra attention to.

9. Saved by the bell

Just because we now have greater flexibility doesn’t mean we should be working 24/7. Make your day work for you, but give yourself a ‘home time’ when you stop work, turn off your emails, get away from your desk and go and do anything but work.

10. It’s up to you

What a healthy work-life balance looks like can only be determined by you. What works well for one individual won’t necessarily work for another.

There are only so many hours in the day, and we all have different things that we need to be present for outside of our working life. Make your day work for you.

Supporting your staff working remotely needn’t cause you any wellness woes. With access to Dialogue your employees will have all the tools they need to feel happier, healthier and connected. Find out more about our Employee Wellness solutions!