As you work at home and help in remote team engagement, one of your biggest enemies is burnout.
Remote workers burn out much easier due to the many responsibilities they need to juggle apart from work. While it has its benefits, burnout can give you all kinds of productivity issues.
If you’re looking to continue being productive at home, you want to ensure that you prevent work from home burnout.
Here are 5 ways to save yourself from burnout.
How To Know You’re Close To A Burnout
How do you tell if you’re close to a burn-out? Well, you can probably feel your body and mind slowing down. You will start feeling irritable and unmotivated about what you do and looking for reasons to quit.
Knowing when you’re close to a breakdown is easy. You’re likely heading towards a meltdown when you don’t feel refreshed or excited. Also, if you become bored or restless, there’s a high chance you need to take a step back from work.
Your tolerance toward stress drops. Your ability to control your emotions is among the first things to go. You’ll feel surges of anger, annoyance, and frustration, and you’ll find yourself sad or depressed in the middle of the night. Stress, the main culprit of burnout, will keep you from being productive.
1. Take Your Breaks
Taking breaks is very important while you’re working from home. If you overwork yourself, it will affect your work and family life. So, you must take scheduled breaks that are long enough to recharge your batteries.
Be sure to schedule these when you are well-rested. Going through a complete cycle of being tired, taking a short break, being awake, and returning to work is exhausting. It’s better to take a break in the middle of the day than to stay up all night working.
To make the most of your time, map out your day. Then, create a to-do list and prioritize your tasks for the day. Then, you can group your different activities into blocks of 30 minutes. When you feel your motivation wane, give that 30-minute block to another task.
2. Touch Grass
Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t go outside. In fact, this is one of the best ways to be more productive. Go outside and get some fresh air, listen to some music, walk, or do exercises. It’ll give you an unbiased perspective and boost your energy.
Touch grass. Enjoy the outdoors and spend a few minutes walking, stretching your legs, and getting some blood flowing. Outside your work hours, go on a hike or walk around your neighborhood for some “you” time. Walk your pets or opt for walking meetings.
Going outdoors can help reset your dopamine receptors. It can help improve your mental health status and deter your fatigue in general.
3. Create A Plan
Having a plan will help you stay on track and keep you from getting burned out. Your first step is to break down your specific goals into actionable steps. Next, note down the time each of these actions will take. Lastly, determine when you’ll do these tasks.
Here’s a trick you can use when in doubt, choose an hour. For example, if you want to read for 1 hour, then do it for an hour. So, if reading takes you 15 minutes and 30 seconds, then you’ve set a time limit.
When you plan ahead and stick to your schedule, you avoid procrastination. This will help you stay organized and focused. It will also help you eliminate any distractions that can affect your productivity. You won’t find yourself wasting hours surfing the net or on social media.
Having a clear set of plans will give you a sense of direction. It will allow you to devote time to one project at a time. When you have multiple projects, it can be overwhelming. You may even end up procrastinating on one of them.
4. Set Regular Hours
Set an inflexible work schedule so that you can stick to your plan. This will help you avoid overworking yourself. Keep in mind that you also have other responsibilities and family commitments. So, if you want to avoid a crash and burn, you need to establish regular working hours.
Your clients will appreciate it when you respect their schedules and deadlines. So, while it’s essential to set your work hours, it’s also vital that you work around your clients’ schedules. Commit to a routine in both the morning and the evening to help you segregate your personal and work time.
Your morning routine should ideally include exercise, meditation, and a shower. The shower should wash away the stress and prepare you for the day. The after-shower endorphins should send a burst of positive energy to your brain.
Your evening routines should be the opposite. Turn off your laptop, close your tabs, and go to bed when you’re done.
5. Separate Your Workspace and Personal Space
You should create a separate space for work and personal space. Make sure your workspace is clean and organized. Your desk should be clear of books, papers, pens, and other clutter. Use an ergonomic chair, sit upright, and pay attention to posture.
Maintain this separation between your home and office. You can use a work phone to make your business calls, but you should not make any personal calls. Your cell phone should ring only when it’s work-related.
A home office with a separate space for your computer, printer, scanner, and stationery is practical. This will also be your meeting area. Having this space ensures that you remain focused and on-point.
If you often find yourself daydreaming, it will be helpful if you turn your attention to your natural surroundings. Go outside and look at the trees, the grass, and the insects. They’re reminders of the bigger picture.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know how to prevent burning out, you can continue being more productive. You can learn how to manage your time and reduce your stress levels. Just keep in mind that it will always be a work in progress.
Having a healthy work-life balance can help you stay motivated and get more work done. So, if you find it hard to juggle your personal and professional lives, there are things you can do to make your life easier.
Manuela Willbold
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