I’m sure you’re all familiar with the old adage: “Work to Live, don’t Live to Work”. When you work as a Virtual Assistant or self-employed business owner, it’s all too easy for work to permeate every aspect of your life. Working from home, although great for reducing commute costs, brings with it a unique set of challenges; for a start, it’s not so easy to walk away from the office at the end of the day.
It’s also much easier to be distracted by household chores that need to be completed, particularly when you’ve got a challenging or mundane task that needs to be completed! Another issue relates to the noise created by your family and/or pets when you work from home.
Working at home alongside your family is a totally different ball-game, whether it is your partner asking you where something is every two minutes, the dog going crackers about a squirrel in the garden, or your tranquillity being disturbed by the pervasive catchiness of children’s television theme songs , the ability to tune out the noise and find your inner Zen can be a challenging skill to master!
Though we all know that working from home can be incredibly positive and beneficial, it is very easy to lose sight of this fact if you are snowed under with work and feeling as though your work-life balance is non-existent. So here are my top tips for re-establishing your work-life balance and recognising the flexibility that a virtual role can provide – if you let it!
1.) Step away from your inbox – consider switching off your emails in the evenings and weekends. The majority of business owners won’t expect you to respond to their late night emails UNLESS you have made a habit of always getting back to them, regardless of the time. Even if you do like to check your emails in the evening, consider holding back on sending responses until working hours so that recipients don’t start to assume that you are on hand to deal with every enquiry (urgent or not) outside of traditional working hours.
2.) Consider a mini ‘Digital Detox’ at evenings and weekends – scientific evidence suggests that the blue light emitted by our computers, laptops, tablets and phones can interfere with our natural sleeping patterns. Why not consider setting aside an hour or two before bed each night as ‘digital free’ time? It could help you get a better night’s sleep and, in turn, help you feel more rested and positive in the morning all ready for a day of productive and efficient work.
3.) Get out and about – you know how everyone assumes that if you work from home that you’re always swanning about in the sunshine and going out for coffee? Why not actually try to live that stereotype, at least a little! If the weather is gorgeous, take an hour out and get out for a walk in the fresh air. If you’re lacking productivity, why not consider popping out for a coffee to give your mind a well-deserved break? It’s easy to get stir-crazy sitting in the same four walls all day every day, so mix it up every now and then and embrace your ability to work flexibly!
4.) Get dressed – it’s SO easy to work in your PJs when you haven’t got to leave the house, but although this does happen occasionally, I find that I work more efficiently and positively when I am dressed and ready for work.
5.) Network – even if you aren’t looking for new clients at the moment, networking can be a beneficial experience! It’s really easy to accidentally go for days without actually speaking to someone face-to-face – apart from your family and close friends/neighbours. But building positive working relationships at physical or virtual networking events can help to both reduce potential feelings of loneliness and isolation, and help you to establish a circle of moral and technical support, should you ever require it.