Working From Home: The Grass is not Always Greener

People who drive into the office everyday often are jealous of the work from home crowd. If you work at home, you don’t have to fight traffic and deal with co-workers stinky meals. You can also work in your pajamas if the mood strikes.

But working from home is not all hanging out in your pajamas and sleeping in late. The common trap that many of these people fall into is the inability to stop working. It’s hard to transition from work when you work from home. Often times professionals who work from home will discover that they are still working and it’s already midnight. Having a good work/life balance is vital for everyone and when the lines are blurred between them, things can become ‘caddywhompus’.

Luckily, there are some things people who work from home can do to help them keep the balance between there personal home life and their work home life.

1. Set up a time for your “close of business”: Be sure you set a time to end work. No matter what that looks like for you. It could be a normal 9am to 5pm, or 12pm to 8pm. Just be certain that you stick to it and shut your computer off when your day ends.
2. Do something for yourself: When your day ends, be sure to do something for yourself. It doesn’t need to be much. Watch a TV show, exercise, or read something non-work related. This habit will help you no matter when you have set your workday to end. This can be something simple: Maybe you want to relax on the couch and stream a few episodes of your favorite sitcom. Or it may be a bigger deal, such as a dinner date with a friend or a trip to the movies. Taking a mental break will help get you mentally out of your work.
3. Leave the house: It’s easy as a work-from-homer to spend all of your time at home. You look up, see it’s the end of the week, and find that the only time you left your house was to go to the grocery store when you ran out of cereal. Don’t turn into a work-from-home shut-in. It’s simply not healthy.

Working an excessive amount of can lead to stress, which can cause health problems. This is true whether you work from home, in an office, or in the field. So, the secret is to find a balance between personal life and work. If you can’t work from home and find that balance, it may be time to return to an office environment. At least then, when they turn off the lights in the office, you’ll know you have worked long enough.

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