9 tips on how to work from home work-life balance

More and more people are carrying out their work duties while staying within familiar four walls. In a distracting environment, it is easy for motivation to drop and for the boundaries between work and private life to become blurred. It is therefore important to create a space that is conducive to concentration and to develop habits that make working remotely from home effective and enjoyable.

The home office mode allows a great deal of freedom of action. Thanks to it, we are able to carry out tasks during the hours when the traditional office is closed. In addition, instead of wasting time commuting to the company, we can sleep longer or prepare a nutritious breakfast in no hurry. Remote working is not without its drawbacks, however. At home, it is more difficult to concentrate and refrain from taking frequent breaks, so it is not uncommon to find ourselves getting up from our desks late in the evening.

In order to avoid a loss of work-life balance, it is advisable to arrange a comfortable corner in which to deal exclusively with business matters. The next step should be to introduce specific rules so that nothing distracts us from them. Here are nine tips on how to work from home without spending more time than necessary in front of the screen.

1 The environment matters - a comfortable place to work

For many industries, working remotely from home is just as satisfying as working in an office. A functional workspace, which does not have to be a separate office, helps you to focus on your current tasks. If you don't have a spare room, you might as well arrange the work area in the living room or bedroom in such a way that it fuels creativity and supports concentration.

It is worth opting for clever furniture that provides comfort and facilitates good organisation. A desk with a spacious worktop, a comfortable chair or swivel armchair and space for documents in the form of a few wall-mounted shelves or a separate bookcase are usually sufficient. A practical solution will also be a square 4 You table with a multifunctional niche and boxes acting as drawers. These will store office accessories and other useful small items.

A fixed remote working space allows you to recreate the conditions of a traditional office. It encourages productivity and sends a message to loved ones that we are busy at the moment. Sometimes wandering around the house with a laptop can change your perspective and can prove to be a lifesaver during creative pursuits. However, it is worth preparing an ergonomic stand for ourselves, where we can always go in search of peace and quiet.

2. quiet and calm - eliminating distractions

A congenial environment encourages absentmindedness and the escape of thoughts from professional matters. No home is short of distractions. A rambunctious child, a dog demanding a walk, laundry piling up and dinner time approaching are just some of the factors that make it difficult to maintain iron discipline. Even if we live alone, we can lose focus under the influence of outside noise or having to get up from our desks to get something we need.

The most helpful way to ensure full concentration is to have a separate room to work in. Once the door is closed, we are able to disengage from the household rhythm and surround ourselves with objects related to our profession instead of distractions. However, we can also create a comfortable environment for ourselves in an interior where the paths of the household intersect. Sound-absorbing headphones and a folding screen can help to remove the excess visual stimuli.

It is also worth taking care of the right lighting. This way, the sun hiding behind a cloud will not provide a convenient excuse to stop working. A discreetKarl lamp will leave ample space for your calendar, notebooks and other items you need to keep close at hand so you don't have to get up from your desk too often.

3 Putting your desk and head in order

Clutter not only makes us waste time looking for the things we need, it also lowers our mood by causing irritability. To avoid having to tear ourselves away from important projects, it's a good idea to regularly tidy up our workspace. This way, we can sit down at our desk each day with a clear head, open to productive work and creative pursuits.

If you need a lot of working space, it is worth leaving the tabletop empty and moving any utensils to the handy drawers. The Creative desk, which is highly customisable, will go well with a tasteful set of low organisers in grey felt. Larger items can be organised in the mobile pedestal. Slipped underneath the tabletop, it will not take up any extra space in the interior. However, we will be able to take it and its contents with us at any time to move to the sofa and continue our work at the coffee table top. On the windowsill next to the desk, on the other hand, it is worth finding a place for the Cala basket, which is the ideal "home" for branch magazines. In a moment of creative crisis, we will be able to reach for one in search of inspiration.

4 Personalisation, or working remotely from home in your own way

Although we have no control over how our company office looks, we can arrange our own home office exactly the way we want it. It's a good idea to take advantage of this opportunity, as we feel most comfortable in surroundings we like. We don't have to clutter up our desk to introduce personal touches. A practical way to personalise it is to choose a stylish desk cover that protects it from scratches and makes it easier to use a mouse. For example, those who start their day with a quiet yoga practice will find the minimalist Yoga underlay to improve their mood.

If we don't mind introducing additional objects to our desk, it is worth placing a minimalist Est framewith a photo of a loved one on it. A photograph that reminds us why it's worth the effort can also be stuck to the wall above the desk, along with the drawing works of your kids. A row of favourite reads or souvenirs from our travels, displayed on a Young Users hanging shelf, will also make our work more enjoyable. A key ring from a seaside resort can also adorn the Felis felt board. In addition to sentimental trinkets, the soft hexagons will also conveniently pin up any notes useful for remote work at home.

5. disconnection from home responsibilities

When seeking advice on how to work from home, we are sometimes frustrated by the blurring of the boundaries between professional and private spheres. Many people catch themselves vacuuming, cooking dinner and helping their child with lessons in parallel to their work tasks. As a result, they then have to spend their evenings putting the finishing touches to projects and answering emails. Instead of forgetting work at 5 pm, she only leaves her desk before going to bed.

So how do you maintain a work-life balance? Let's try to forget that we are at home and not in the office. After all, if we were at the company headquarters, we wouldn't have the opportunity to wash the dishes, do the laundry or wipe the dust off the dresser while we were working. It might be a good idea to set your alarm clock for an earlier time and do all these things in the morning, so that they don't bother you later. After all, it is worth remembering that even a minor activity that involves stepping away from the computer significantly reduces our concentration and forces us to re-engage in the task at hand when we return to our desk. By wasting time in this way, we unnecessarily prolong our working day.

How to work from home? Surrounded by plants!

A positive influence on both our well-being and productivity is... the presence of greenery. Flowers and potted plants are not only beautiful to look at, they also improve the quality of the air in the room. By evaporating, they increase humidity. Many of them also absorb harmful substances. It is worth finding a place for a horsetail, herbaceous plant or coral palm next to the computer.

A small resident in a decorative cover will effectively enliven our desk, putting us in a positive mood for a day of remote work at home. By looking at the greenery, we will also give our eyes a rest, tired by prolonged contact with a screen. If we are far from being a skilled gardener, instead of a pot with a specimen that needs sprinkling, we can introduce a vase with a bouquet of fresh flowers.

7. At work and after work, or dividing up space

Maintaining a healthy balance between home and work life will be facilitated by a functional division of space. This is especially important if you use a corner of your living room or bedroom for remote work, which also serve many other functions. If we cannot close the study door behind us, it becomes more difficult to disconnect our thoughts from unfinished business matters.

There are many ways to metaphorically return home from work. Before we devote our attention to our loved ones, it is a good idea to put away the company laptop and put away the documents in the binders. Without leaving the room, we will then feel that we have closed a certain stage of the day. It also sends a clear signal to the little ones that we can now be disturbed.

Even if we don't need to set boundaries with the children in mind, it's worth doing for our own mental balance. We may subconsciously associate browsing news and social media at our desk with work. It is better to move to another location without remorse, thus avoiding fatigue or even professional burnout.

8 Fixed working hours - a way to be more motivated

Many people also wonder how to work from home and not take too many breaks. The best advice is to write them into your calendar, just like all your other duties. If you plan your day in advance, you may find that you can easily find time to play with your cat and cook a delicious meal in between professional things.

The most important thing is that the schedule does not just exist in our heads. Writing down a list makes it more difficult to manipulate. If we have a Nori organiser hanging above our desk with a list of urgent tasks, it will be easier to push away the thought of tidying up the kitchen when we stop by for a fresh pot of tea. The remaining time for priority tasks is discreetly calculated by the Dru clock on the worktop. Importantly, ticking off one item after another will have a positive effect on our motivation to continue working.

The right attitude is half the battle

Simply putting on your exercise outfit is enough to make you feel the urge to do a workout coming on. The same goes for work. If we commute to the office, we take the time to put on make-up or carefully choose our clothes. Although in home office mode we don't have to worry about the dress code, it's worth maintaining a morning routine. Just taking off our pyjamas and making sure we look neat sends a message to our head that we are entering a particular mode. Let's change again when we finish work, so that we don't associate rest with professional duties.

It is also worth recreating other rituals. If you started your stay at the office with a cup of coffee, make yourself a cup of this aromatic beverage before you send your first e-mail. The aroma will remind us of the concentration that comes with starting the working day.

Not all the tips presented will prove useful in every situation. It is worth experimenting and looking for your own answer to the question of how to work effectively from home. Different measures will support the productivity of a graphic designer, translator or accountant. For all professions, however, a well-organised working space that reflects individual taste will be invaluable. Take advantage of all the benefits of being indoors. If the weather outside is favourable, do not hesitate to move your home office to the balcony. The natural light and fresh air will improve our motivation. Whatever the circumstances, let's ensure that working remotely from home is not only productive, but equally enjoyable.