Working from home full time inevitably blurs the lines between your personal life and work life. Unmanaged, it leads to stress, burnout, frustration,

How to Stay Sane While Working From Home - by Ryan O'Neill

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2024-05-10 03:00:07

Working from home full time inevitably blurs the lines between your personal life and work life. Unmanaged, it leads to stress, burnout, frustration, and all sorts of other yucky stuff.

The good news is that managing this is pretty approachable (no matter where you live). You have to be deliberate about separating these two modes of your life.

Have an “in” routine and an “out” routine. One in the morning to go “in” to work, and one in the afternoon to get “out” of work. They can be simple and short, it’s the repetition and consistency that make them work. Think Pavlov’s dogs, except you’re cueing yourself to either get into work mode, or to get out of work mode.

Put on clean, comfortable, work appropriate clothes. I’ve heard of some folks even getting “dressed up” for work as an additional mental cue.

Grab a seltzer from the fridge, head to my desk. When I get there I immediately turn on my desk light, crack open that seltzer, and dive into work.