I can’t switch off while WFH

TL;DR: Give yourself time and mindspace to develop to a healthy and productive WFH routine. You need two things: time and trial. While working from home, the power to decide is yours.

Set yourself up to thrive

Pick your favourite pastime. How many years have you been practicing? Which books have you read on the topic? Got a dedicated hobby room?

Did you compile all of that in two weeks? No?

Didn’t think so. In this third week working from home, I want to learn: how to switch off after a good day’s work.

This week, a sense of a new normal might have set it. That’s a good sign. Does that mean you’ve adjusted? I sure haven’t. Still working on it.

If you found a routine works for you? Share what you do with someone. (me!)

If you struggle to balance children, work, cooking, cleaning and the lot? You’re not alone.

Help yourself by doing two things

One. Accept this: change takes time, and that is fine. You set up your life for a different routine. Life changed. You’ll adapt.

Two. Try new things. If you get no work done throughout the day because you have other responsibilities too, get creative. Good ideas I’ve heard and read about:

• Shifts
  • one partner cares fo the kids, the other works
  • a shift can be 30 minutes for a call to 3 hours for focus time
• Overlap
  • how much overlap do I need with colleagues and customers? Maybe four hours daily. That gives me four flexible hours.
• Produce, not presence
  • The objective is to get the work done, not to sit at your desk for eight hours.
• Social contract
  • discuss working hours with your manager or leader. Be empathic, be clear, and be firm. You want to work, but you need flexibility.
    • If they can’t help, learn from that what you want.
• Breaks
  • Nobody can sprint for fourteen hours, every day. Chill out. You deserve it. You do.

The lines between work and family time blur quickly when working from home. Be mindful of that trap. Eight hours is eight hours. Whether you take four shifts of two or one shift of eight.

While working from home, the power to decide is yours.

Toby