How do you balance work and life when working from home?

Set clear boundaries between work and home life whilst accepting at times you will need to put in the extra hours - End of month / quarter / year end. If you travel, you're out early, back late, away overnight. When at home take short breaks, move away from your desk at lunch and finish on time. Get an Apple Watch - hourly move prompts, go for a drink etc. Gym, walk etc at lunch to ensure you're taking timeout and achieve your move goals. Mental and physical health is important to your employer for productivity. At the end of the day finish on time to be with your family, friends, activity etc. Careers are important but we work to live, our children won't remember the deal we closed but will remember our absence.

This has really helped me with working remotely. I work 7:30am-5:00pm, but no later than 5:30pm. I am not on call to do a transplant of any kind so there really isn't a need for me to jump on a call at midnight. My agencies know I am available between work hours and don't expect me to do otherwise because I work from home.

Balancing work and life while working from home requires: 1. Establish a Routine: • Create a regular daily plan for work and personal activities. 2. Establish a Workspace: • Designate a dedicated area for work to separate it from personal life. 3. Establish boundaries: • Clearly define work hours and avoid working outside of these times. 4. Take Breaks: • Schedule regular breaks to rest and refuel. 5. Prioritise chores: • Use a to-do list to efficiently manage chores and prevent overworking. 6. Stay Connected: • Engage socially with coworkers and loved ones. 7. Prioritise self-care by engaging in activities that enhance well-being, such as exercise and hobbies. These tactics promote a good work-life balance.

One thing I have rarely deviated from is my work hours. I first started working remotely in 2012. I found that friends, family, and especially neighbors thought you were available to chat any time. It's helpful to communicate your work hours and set expectations not only to the people who live with you, but the folks that contact you often. I found early on that for me to be productive I also need to put on my "work clothes." For me this is almost like a visual queue for myself that it's "game time."

For me, achieving work-life harmony is about seamlessly integrating all my responsibilities. I divide my focus into three main areas: Family, Work, & Future Growth. This includes learning new skills, productive activities like these article contribution, and engaging in public speaking opportunities. I begin my day early and adhere to a set routine that includes daily exercise, quality time with my daughter, and providing guidance to my team. I proactively plan my weeks and days in advance, ensuring that I allocate time for key all activities. By carefully managing my schedule and priorities, I am able to seamlessly navigate between my various responsibilities and pursuits.

I use a semi shared workspace at home but always make a point of packing away laptop and notepads etc away each night as a demarcation ritual. Also making sure my desk is ONLY for work use.

Having a separate space really helps to keep distractions to a minimum and to keep work and personal life separate. My family knows that when I am in my office I am working. A good chair, an adjusting standing desk and well lit area will really help with the ergonomics of your office.

Make a point to select a dedicated workspace. It needs to be well lit, comfortable, organised and free from distractions. Ensure you keep it tidy and conductive to productive and focused work. It needs to be a designated area to allow complete mental separation between your professional and personal life. Invest in ergonomic furniture and ensure it promotes good posture. Your work environment needs to promote wellness by adding personal touches, promoting movement breaks and tools such as a standing desk converter and acceptable sound system, microphone and computer equipment.

Do you spread your things everywhere? Or is there a specific space where you can isolate work from everyday life? It helps me to have a small space where I can spread things out and keep my work products organized.

A comfortable and separate workspace is essential for productive work from home. Equip it with the necessary tools and personal items that keep you focused. Remember, your workspace may need adjustments as you adapt, so be open to refreshing and reworking it as needed.

In my experience, you need to set the rules for engagement during working hours. Setup a lunch time and let family know that you will be available during that time and when you take breaks, ask if anything pressing before returning to work. Have a separate work area with a door. When the door is closed, only disturb if an emergency. Set work hours and when you need to work over, take a break and communicate to set evening plans. Try not to take away family time, unless necessary. In that case, work while others are away or sleeping.

One thing that has helped me tremendously this year, is to make it a habit to mute email and chatops apps after work hours. In this day and age with our brains constantly seeking that dopamine hit for more and new information, it is easy to scroll through email or check those chatops notifications. By constantly being "on" we are not honoring our boundaries and actually contributing to the feelings that create burnout.

Setting boundaries is critical - but even more important than that? Sticking to them. Make sure you are committed to enforcing those boundaries by making the non-negotiable stuff exactly that. Make a habit of logging off or doing a certain leisure activity at a certain time so you create a habit not a decision, to support you to stick to those all important boundaries that, without discipline, can so easily slip.

Boundary setting is perhaps the most essential variable to get right when remote working. 1. Define your work hours for yourself, colleagues and anyone sharing your living space. 2. Create a dedicated workspace separating professional from personal areas. 3. Clearly communicate availability. 4. Boundary the amount of work you can realistically complete in set time periods. 5. Have lots of breaks for movement, meals and rest away from your workspace. 6. Turn if notifications and if necessary remove your phone. 7. Allocate clear times for self-care and family - these are your non negotiable. 8. Have a closing down ritual to mark the end of work and to help you mentally transition from work to personal time.

Having a strong support network of family friends and colleagues is essential with people you can turn to when you experience challenges and setbacks.

While remote work provides flexibility, nothing quite replaces human interaction. Ensure to organise online activities, maintain active social channels for regular communication, and extend support to others to create a strong virtual community.

In remote settings, it's advantageous to replicate the moments of connection typical of in-person work. This could involve arranging impromptu calls for casual, non-work-related conversations or sending messages throughout the day that aren't focused on tasks or goals. Similar to in-person settings, staying connected remotely involves a range of conversations that serve as reminders of our shared humanity, emphasizing that there's more to engage with than just the tasks at hand.

A technique that I've found particularly effective in managing overwhelm is journaling, specifically engaging in Julia Cameron's "Morning Pages" routine each day. This practice doesn't just bolster my psychological resilience; it also acts as a catalyst for my creativity. By dedicating time each morning to freely express thoughts and feelings on paper, I find it significantly enhances my mental clarity and imaginative capacity.

We can see from our research using the ResilienceBuilder Assessment Tool that self care is a priority for people with high levels of resilience, with a focus on eating healthily, exercising regularly and maintaining a good work/life balance.

One of the best perks about working from home is that you set your own schedule. If the 9-to-5 routine doesn’t work for you, change things up - lots of little breaks, long lunches, personal errands between tasks. Try a bunch of things to figure out what makes sense for you.

Everyday can be different and that's exciting! Yet continue to maintain boundaries of the amount of time allocated to meetings, eat lunch, exercise and eat lunch.

For high achievers like myself, it’s crucial to embrace self-compassion. We often push ourselves relentlessly, but learning to treat ourselves with kindness, as we would a friend, is key to resilience. This means acknowledging that setbacks are part of growth, not signs of failure. I practice this by reflecting on my efforts, not just outcomes, which reduces stress and surprisingly boosts productivity. In essence, self-compassion is a vital ingredient for sustainable success; it allows us to be ambitious without compromising our well-being.

balance is a not just 50 50 percent . when we all the fine tune session. we have to listen our body tells us which pillar need to add on more spices and ingredients to enhance the frequency. I work. I laugh. I pray. of course to enjoy all the good and the best.. so we know the zone and tracking from the loop to buiild the resiliency in scientific way . not just the holistic talk and walk.. May all of us to be resilience citizens on this resiliency planet.

Incorporate small, inspiring messages into your workspace to stay motivated. Use screen savers, wallpapers, or backgrounds with encouraging messages, and write sticky notes with reminders to take breaks, hydrate, or rest your eyes. These gentle prompts can help maintain focus and well-being throughout the workday.

Congrats! Being able to work from home is a key measure of work life balance - that you are getting it right. Step 1, before you take the actions suggested in this article (like establishing a routine, a great work-space and rejigging your communications channels to stay connected), is to take a moment to celebrate this.