Are you facing some challenges while working from home?
Working from home is the dream. You don’t have to wear pants and you don’t need to sit in traffic to get to work.
You don’t even have to shower! But I hope you do.
My point is, that working from home is amazing until you start facing the challenges.
“How do I stay productive?”
“Why do I feel like my mental health is declining?”
“Did I gain weight?!”
“Why can’t I stay focused?!”
Sound familiar? If you answered yes, then keep reading.
Yes, there are also setbacks to working from home but there are also solutions for everything and that’s what we’re gonna talk about here.
I have been working from home for so many years and I’m gonna share with you everything I learned along the way.
In this article you will learn:
- Wellness tips for working from home
- Tips for working from home effectively
- Work from home tools you can use
Working From Home
Working from home is the dream for many but it also comes with a few challenges. Whether you’re still dreaming of being a digital nomad or you already are one, learning how to overcome these challenges will make working from home easier and more enjoyable for you.
How Can I Maintain My Wellness While Working From Home?
There are many things that you can do to make working from home easier but it all boils down to establishing good habits and sticking to them.
I’ve been a full-time digital nomad until travel restrictions and governments became tyrannical.
Now, I just work from the comfort of my own home.
There are many things that you can do to make working from home easier, more enjoyable, and healthier.
Let’s just go through them one by one. I’ll show you kind of the things I do to make working from home a lot easier.
I’ll start with the physical things and then I’ll get on to the more mental side.
The Pandemic And Working From Home
The unexpected shutdown of many offices and workplaces during the pandemic brought in a new age of remote work for millions of employees.
It may also bring in a profound change in how a huge section of the workforce functions in the future.
Many employees across many industries worked from home for lengthy periods of time, many for the first time in their lives.
With such widespread disruption in the economy and the lives of hundreds of millions of people, many individuals had time to reflect on what is most important to them.
Many people realized that they don’t have to settle for less and that it is possible to work for themselves.
Working a 9 to 5 is not the only option but there are an infinite number of ways that you could build an income from the comfort of your own home.
If you want to know more about this, check out this article about why you should quit your job.
Working from home is great!
You don’t have to be in an office for 8 hours, you have no boss watching your every move, no toxic co-workers to deal with, no long travel hours, and no need to wear office attire and look formal.
You could also spend more time with your family and do the things you love. It sounds like a dream! What’s the catch?
Of course, working from home also comes with a few challenges.
The Challenges Of Working From Home
The 3 biggest challenges to working from home are the struggle of keeping active, mental health struggles, and keeping yourself focused and productive.
1: The Struggle Of Keeping Active
Is it unhealthy to work from home?
If you were used to working in an office, you would have been walking around more because the offices are spread out and the toilets are usually farther away from where you sit.
You have to go to different meeting rooms, to get lunch, and whatever.
These are things that are gonna be hard to find at home unless you live in a 4-story house with a pool in front and an expansive backyard.
Going in and out of work also means you have to walk a few steps to and from your car or to the mass transportation of your choice.
Unless you live in a mansion, it’s gonna be hard to meet your 10,000 steps a day.
It’s also very tempting to be a couch potato and over-indulge. Hungry? The fridge is only 5 steps away!
“You know what’s better than working from home? Working while eating Oreos on the couch!”
Jokes aside, there are dangerous health risks to working from home.
2: Mental Health Struggles
Is working from home better or worse for mental health?
Between March 26 and April 5, 2021, the APA conducted a poll of 1,000 remote employees.
The majority of employees who work from home report poor mental health during covid-19.
They reported working from home isolation, loneliness, and difficulties getting away from work at the end of the day.
So yes, working from home depression is very real.
If you were used to working in the office, you naturally would have gotten more social time.
It’s quite easy to shut down after the 5 pm alarm bells and you leave the office.
This is not that easy to do when your home is also your office. It can be hard to compartmentalize the two.
Also, no matter how much of an introvert you are, studies show that social interactions are important for our mental health.
It can be hard to keep yourself motivated while working from home if your mental health is not in good shape.
3: Keeping Yourself Focused and Productive
You also would probably have superiors around to keep you productive and not a lot of distractions around.
This time, with no one supervising you, you have to discipline yourself.
It’s easy to not do what we’re supposed to do when there is no one watching.
This makes us more prone to procrastinate. There are also more distractions in your home.
“I really should finish this now.. Or I could watch a film to relax me and finish this after. Great idea!”
“I’m just gonna take a quick break and check my Instagram… Huh?! It’s already 5 pm?!”
Overcoming These Challenges
You can overcome these challenges by listening to the tips and tricks that I’m about to discuss with you.
As I said, I have been doing these for a long time and these are what helped me overcome these challenges. Now I’m just having a blast while working from home.
I am focused and productive, and I am enjoying every bit of it. I want the same thing for you.
Working From Home Tips And Tricks
1: Keep Yourself Moving
The first thing I would recommend is getting a standing desk. You can find one on Amazon and you can buy them for the cost of only around 10 pounds.
It’s adjustable so you can have it as high or as low as you want, depending on your height.
Sitting down all day is very bad for you. They say it’s almost as bad as smoking if you live a sedentary lifestyle.
So working while standing up is an easy way to fix that.
Another thing is to keep things in your environment that will encourage you to move and have a work from home exercise routine.
I have a kettlebell in my room which I do kettle swings with. I’ve got a little stool so I can half sit, half stand on. It’s much better than just sitting on a sofa.
You can also keep a rebounder nearby as it’s good for the bones, ligaments, lymph system, and even digestion.
So that’s the first kind of tip I would say is like keep yourself active, sit on different things if you can. On the floor, on a bean bag, whatever.
And surround yourself with things that will inspire movement. Treat your home as a mini playground.
I recommend moving first thing in the morning. Start your day even with just a bit of stretching or yoga.
“Does doing house work count as exercise?” Yes! Anything to make you sweat and raise your heartbeat is good.
2: Keep Things Minimal
The next thing that I would recommend is to be a bit minimalist. There’s very little clutter in my house.
I noticed that when things are cluttered, it’s harder to think.
This is why I like to keep things very minimalist. I have a simple setup. Nothing distracting me, nothing too crazy.
When your mind is not cluttered, it’s easier for you to focus on the tasks at hand.
Imagine a place with only the items you need. This is a simple way to think about how to set up your minimalist work environment.
3: Get A White Board
Another tip I would recommend is to have a whiteboard where you can put all of your to-do lists and your goals somewhere you can clearly see them.
You can brainstorm ideas, you can use them for presentations and everything else. Very useful. I would highly recommend that.
Your whiteboard may be a fantastic means of keeping track of your daily responsibilities, especially if you prefer to physically write notes rather than type them.
It will keep you aware of the tasks at hand, remaining visible to you at all times.
This tool will be especially valuable for those of us who are still getting acclimated to the difficulties of working from home.
With a detailed to-do list on your board, you’ll be a lot less likely to spend two hours looking at your new pot plant!
4: Software: Blue Light Filter
This applies whether you work at home or from the office, as long as you’re on your laptop more often.
This is a software called Iris. There’s a free version and a paid version. It basically stops your screen from emitting blue light past certain times.
Blue light is harmful to the eyes and it’s terrible for your sleep. That’s why it’s recommended that we don’t use technology that emits blue light close to bedtime.
Aside from the blue light reduction, it has other features such as the reminder to stand up and move around.
5: Software: Cold Turkey Blocker
This is the pro version of free software. You can set different blocks to avoid going on certain websites.
For example, if I try to go on Instagram right now, it says it’s blocked.
It will stay blocked until the time that I set it to be unblocked. On Instagram, I am allowed to go on it between 4 and 8 pm.
That’s the limit I set and it’s very useful for keeping me productive.
It’s so easy to get sucked into social media, scrolling through timelines mindlessly when you should be working.
That applies whether you work from home or not.
Cold turkey blocker helps by preventing you from going on distracting sites. You can even block things like specific search words.
Let’s say you’re addicted to checking the news. You can actually block the word ‘news’.
Just be careful of that because if you don’t set it up right, it might block things that you didn’t want it to block, especially with Youtube.
There’s also a setting where you can lock the block, which makes you unable to change the settings for a given time.
Play around with it before you do that so that you don’t accidentally block sites you weren’t planning on blocking.
This is so useful because as much as we like to think we have strong willpower, it’s so easy to get distracted.
We think we’ll just have a short break. We scroll through Facebook and before we know it, we’re down a rabbit hole.
You’re scrolling through the comments on some random video and before you know it, it’s been an hour and you know you haven’t done any work.
Now you don’t feel like doing work and the day is almost gone.
Another tip is to have an accountability partner. Every week, you tell them what you are going to do in that week workwise, and then they kind of keep you accountable.
They ask you “how’s it going with your work? Have you done your task or not?”
6: Have The Right Mindset
Lastly, we have the mindset. When you work from home it’s very to be tempted to do the things that you normally do at home.
Maybe watching movies, napping, eating more than you should, going on your phone, and playing with your pets.
It’s easy to do these things because you’re already in your house and there’s nobody watching you, no boss to call you out.
What I like to do is try to keep myself in a routine, focusing on the first part of the day,
The first part of the day is easier to control especially when you’ve just woken up.
Sometimes you have other things to do. You get distracted.
When you have a routine, you won’t be distracted so easily.
After that, the rest of your day can be more flexible. As the day goes on, there are more distractions, things happen, and you might get pulled around.
Curate a morning routine that is almost non-negotiable.
I will do meditation, visualization, a bit of stretching, and exercise.
You can customize this according to your personal preferences.
7: Keep A Journal
Another great tip is keeping a journal. I do journaling but I don’t write in one every day. I think that’s too much, but a weekly journal is just about right.
This helps me reflect on what happened for that whole week and how I can improve the next week.
Journaling doesn’t only help with your work, It also helps you spiritually.
It helps to get your feelings and thoughts out on paper so that they take up less space in your head.
Even if you don’t think they do, they will weigh down on you eventually. So it’s good to get them out on paper so you could clear your head and be more present.
Those are the work from home tips that I’ve adapted over the years, especially when I was traveling.
These are things that you can do while working from home or from anywhere in the world.
Maybe from a coffee shop by the beach? Or your Airbnb hotel.
FAQs
How Do I Start Working From Home?
If you want to do freelance work for clients, Fiverr and Upwork are great sites to start. If you want to build a passive income, you can build a course, a blog, or a Youtube channel. It all depends on what kind of work you want to do, and which skills you have or are willing to learn.
Check out this mastermind on how to start a business you love or watch this video about how to start a Youtube channel.
Is It Worth It To Work From Home?
Working from home is very worth it because you can have more work/life balance. You can work from anywhere and you have more time and freedom to do the things you love.
What Is A Healthy Work/Life Balance?
A healthy work/life balance means meeting job obligations while still making time for friends and interests, having enough time to sleep and eat appropriately, and having a good work shut-down ritual.
How To Maintain Wellness While Working From Home
It’s been an interesting few years. I think more people are starting to work from home and building their own businesses.
Working from home can be very easy. It can actually be better in many ways as long as you know how to take care of your well-being.
You can do this by adopting good habits and sticking to them.
When you’re well-being is in good shape, your vibrations are raised and you attract more abundance.
If you want to know more about how to raise your vibrations, check out this free training.
With that being said, the benefits of working from home outweigh the negatives.
Now you’ve learned the are the tips that have helped me maintain my overall wellness. I’m also curious about what other people who have the same work setup are doing.
Let me know in the comments what is your favorite tip and if you have your own tips that you’d like to share!
