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From Work-Life Blur To Balanced Life
Home to many of us is associated with a comfortable, cosy and relaxing place, where you can unwind and recharge internal batteries after long hours spent working at the office. But things change when your home is your workplace and you need to figure out how to set crystal clear work-life boundaries. Otherwise, you will be constantly mixing your personal and professional responsibilities, and it never works out.
It may not be that obvious but remote working creates the risk that the lines between personal and professional lives will be blurred if not completely eliminated. And when it happens your physical health and mental wellbeing will be affected. Not to mention that your social life will be most likely inexistent.
If you don’t want “work-life blur” to become a real issue for you, you need to set crystal clear boundaries between personal and professional life and in this post, you will learn how to do that!
PS. Don’t forget to grab your FREEBIES!
1. Create A Routine
Morning and evening routine are the keys to success in creating a healthy work-life balance. They guide you through the day in a planned and well-organized way. They help you to manage your time effectively, simplify your decision-making process and get things done on time and well without sacrificing your wellbeing. They help you to maintain high standards and a healthy work-life balance so much needed for leading a fulfilling life.
But perhaps the greatest advantage of having a morning and night routine is that it strengthens your self-discipline muscle without you even noticed that. Because while developing a routine requires time, effort and making conscious decisions, once it is formed it becomes an automatic behaviour. And that automatic behavior is what helps you to stay on track with your goals. Not to mention if you manage to create a healthy and balanced daily routine a work-life blur won’t be an issue.
Powerful Routines You Might Like To Try Out
- The 5-Step Weekly Routine For Living A Successful And Happy Life.
- 7-Step Work From Home Routine To Boost Your Productivity Levels.
- Morning Routine To Reduce Stress And Anxiety: Quarantine Edition.
- Morning Routine To Reduce Stress And Anxiety – Start Your Day With A Positive Mindset!
- The Ultimate Night Routine For Better Sleep And More Productive Mornings + free printables and checklists for organizing your evenings.
- How To Create A Simple Self-Care Routine That Will Make You Thrive + Free Printables & Checklists!
2. Plan Your Day In Advance
The secret to a better work-life balance while working remotely is to plan everything in advance. This simple strategy will make you confident that you’re focusing on the right things instead of falling into the urgency trap, or even worse, the trap of procrastination. Not to mention that, if you plan your day according to The Rule of 3 you can be sure that you have enough time for family and friends, “me time”, exercise and hobbies or even side hustle.
Success is determined by your daily agenda. So instead of waiting for things to happen, take a proactive approach and plan out your work week, day by day, in advance. Take some time on Friday evening or Saturday morning to make an effective schedule for the upcoming week.
When planning your week do not rely on your memory. Instead write down everything you need to accomplish in a new document (Google calendar, Outlook), on your phone or on a piece of paper to make sure you will not forget about any of the tasks. Then prioritize your tasks and set deadlines for each of them. Don’t overschedule. Be rational and always negotiate with yourself. Do not be your own tyrant. Design your ideal week and set yourself for success.
- Review your past week and identify what went well and what went wrong
- Think about the things you can change or adjust to improve your work performance without sacrificing your personal life
- Set weekly goals and intentions
- Set Weekly and daily priorities (MITs)
- Create a detailed and prioritized to-do list
- Schedule things that you need to get done (I use Google Calendar and Classic Daily Planner)
- Schedule “me time” to create a healthy work-life balance
3. Plan & Schedule Your Work-Breaks
The next very important thing, you should definitely plan and schedule your work-breaks. Because working 8 hours straight without a break is neither healthy nor practical. Not to mention that the ability to focus is a limited resource. That’s why you need to use your focus wisely and take frequent breathers in order to reboot your brain and restore your mental energy if you want to create a productive and balanced workday.
There’s a tendency to think that taking frequent work breaks ruins workflow and triggers procrastination. When in fact, the opposite is true. Several studies have shown that taking regular breaks at work is a powerful strategy for increasing self-motivation, boosting productivity levels, and accelerating your results.
Don’t be afraid of taking frequent breathers to rest, recharge and change your energy. Plan and schedule them!
This workbook (53 pages) is designed to help you maximize your productivity and increase your effectiveness without sacrificing your life balance.
Whether you work from home during the Coronavirus Pandemic or thinking about starting a side hustle, this workbook can help you build a more thoughtful work-from-home strategy, bring structure to your workday and create a healthy work-life balance.
INCLUDED:
- Tips for Working from Home Effectively
- Tips To Stay Organized & Motivated
- Tools for designing your own schedule, rock your to-do list and create an ideal daily routine
- Time Management Tips (The Eisenhower Box, The Pareto Principle worksheets included)
- Yearly, Monthly & Weekly Goal Setting (+ Goal Progress Index)
- Yearly, Monthly, Weekly Planner
- Daily Plan & Schedule
- Monthly & Weekly Organizer
- Time blocking method schedule
- Daily Routines for successful entrepreneurs
- Work Task Checklists
- Powerful Work-Breaks Planner & Checklist
- Yearly, Monthly, Weekly Project Planner
- Creative Worksheets
- Password Keeper
- Healthy Meal Planner
- Flow State & Mindful Motivation Checklist
- Professional Skills Development Tracker
- Healthy Habit Trackers
PERFECT FOR:
- Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Owners
- People currently working from home due to Coronavirus
- Work from home Moms & Dads
- Direct Sales & Network Marketing
- Online Shops
- & more!
4. Prioritize & Simplify
Simplifying and prioritizing your tasks is a powerful strategy to avoid falling into the urgency trap making your personal life literally inexistent. It also helps to prevent confusion and stay focused when working on a difficult task.
Mental focus just like time or willpower is a limited resource. This means that if say “YES” to one thing you automatically say “NO” to another thing. That is why it is crucial to properly identify your top priorities (MITs) so that you know what to focus on at the beginning of your workday.
So instead of making everything your top priority, use the Eisenhower Box to prioritize the things that you need to get done, postpone tasks that you don’t need to do right away, outsource those that you don’t have to do yourself and delete activities that aren’t important or necessary.
The Eisenhower Matrix, also known as Urgent-Important Matrix is a simple decision-making tool that will help you prioritize tasks and manage time effectively. The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four quadrants;
DO - urgent and important tasks that need to be done immediately (ex. finishing a client project, paying bills)
DECIDE - important but not urgent tasks that aren’t your top priorities but you should schedule them to ensure that progress is being made (ex. strategic planning, personal development, new opportunities)
DELEGATE - urgent but not important tasks that need to be done but they can be done by someone else (ex. responding to some emails, meal prep)
DELETE - not urgent and not important tasks that don’t add value to your life (time-wasters, distractions, unnecessary decisions, non-critical choices)
Simplify Your Tasks
- Write down your (daily) top priorities
- Create a detailed to-do list
- Break down complex tasks into small manageable steps
- Prioritize your tasks with The Eisenhower Box
- Create a not-to-do list with items that you don’t need to get done in the nearest future
5. Plan Against Distractions
Distractions are everywhere. They are like little gremlins trying to steal your time, energy and focus. They’re always on alert, so you need to be prepared. Because when you’re prepared they will not surprise you. So instead of relying on self-control and willpower plan against common distractions such as technology, interruptions, intrusive thoughts or unwanted feelings. Once you have a plan you may be sure that distractions will not stop you from achieving your goals and progressing in life.
From my personal experience, I can tell you that, if you’re not used to working remotely you will need to set up a functional workspace and develop an effective strategy to deal with distractions, time-wasters and all the unnecessary decisions that deplete your willpower early on. Because if you don’t do it you will be reaching for your phone, checking emails, scrolling through social media accounts, watching Netflix, responding to messages, mindlessly snacking and doing anything besides working. And this is exactly what you want to avoid, right?
So choose a designed workspace, create favourable conditions, decrease the level of distractions to a minimum, choose a time blocking method that works for you, plan your daily tasks, make your health your number 1 priority and “work from home” like a PRO!
6. End Your Days Strong
Your evening routine is just as important as your morning routine. The way you close your days truly matters because it determines the quality of your sleep and your morning mood. So if you want to sleep better and wake up fresh and ready to go, you should start ending your days strong.
Ending your days strong is a habit of closing your days mindfully and on a high note. It is a simple but extremely powerful practice you can use to increase your self-awareness, reflect on the day’s events and decompress after a long day of work (or school).
Not every day is successful. Some days are just better than others. That’s the fact. But regardless of whether things went according to the plan or not, you want to finish your day in better shape than you’ve started it. The most effective way to do this is to develop a set of nightly practices that help you to relax, unwind and close your day feeling good. So the solution is to develop a powerful night routine that will not only boost your evening mood but also strengthen your self-discipline muscle.
Best Posts On Achieving Success In Life:
- Discover 10 simple ways to train your self-discipline muscle
- Use best time management apps to keep you on schedule at work
- Organize your day around your goals
- Use the Eisenhower Box to identify your top priorities and avoid the urgency trap
- Create and maintain a powerful morning routine
- Develop morning rituals to make your motivation flow effortlessly
- Keep your mind sharp
- Create motivation through action
- Start before you are ready
- Improve your decision-making process
- Overcome your self-limiting beliefs that block your progress
- Balance productivity and happiness
- Cultivate self-care routine
- The 3 x 8 rule for Perfectly Balanced Day & Life
- Create rituals to induce a flow state
- Try Dopamine Detox for Maximum Productivity
Stay positive, be mindful and avoid work-life blur when working from home!
xo Kate
4 thoughts on “How To Avoid Work-Life Blur When Working From Home: 6 Powerful Hacks.”
There’s some useful tips there but planning the day… I would if the others could plan theirs! 😉
Hi Simon!! THANK You for your comment! Planning is KING! I hope you’re doing well. Have a wonderful, peaceful & beautiful week! PS: It’s almost EASTER!!!! 😃😉
Always welcome and now it pretty much is Easter! 🙂
How was your week?
I hope you’re doing well and that you are prepared for tons of chocolate cheesecakes and other delicious food! Happy Easter Simon!! Have a wonderful day!!! 🐰🥮🥧😃😉