‘tips n tricks’ – to achieve your work-life harmony.

Working in the office creates a certain physical barrier that help to have a positive mental separation of the personal and professional life. When you work at home, the dynamic changes —every aspect of work and life are in the same space. Under such circumstances, building work-life harmony requires a different set of thinking and habits.

Let’s have a look at how this can be achieved.

understand that work cannot be finished to perfection every day..

You like to do good work, and certainly don’t plan to do bad work. But here’s an important reality — in the office, deadlines come to a halt and the end of working hours. At home, however, it is more difficult to switch off — and you tend to go back to your work to keep improving it.

This aim for such unattainable perfection is detrimental to your work-life balance. To avoid it, create as close a physical separation of work and personal life as you do in the office. Switch off the laptop, don’t look at work emails (unless alerted to an emergency) — in short, switch off your work lights after logging out.

keep the boundaries with your work too.

It is important to make it clear to colleagues and managers that you can and will exercise your autonomy to log off work after work hours. Do not be anxious in going offline, and set up an away message after work hours to relax in your personal space. There are many tools to indicate your schedule to team members so that they are respectful of your time. You can set them up so as to not receive notifications before or after a certain time of day.

Remember, your inbox with its messages — and even your job will still be there when you reenter your work space the next working day, or after a break.

use personal errands or activities to take breaks.

The remote work model is different form the in-office one, and we will do well to accept this difference. While the overall rules of performance and productivity apply, the way they are achieved will differ.

For example, you can use your personal errand time to break up the work day — as long as you are cognizant of your deliverables and their schedule. This way, you can take breaks that balance your work and life, and are yet productive. Personal tasks you can get done this way include exercising, cooking, or relaxing

create a positive work routine.

When your living space and workspace are the same, it takes extra effort to truly move away after work. The motivation to log off can weaken on some days, and this is something we have to guard against.

Make tangible plans to visit a friend, neighbor or family — or call them over. Go out for a family walk or to play with your kids, go to a movie, attend gym or a workout class…the possibilities are endless. If you actually plan to be somewhere or do something concrete, you'll more sign off work.

eat and sleep well at the right time.

Just like you did when you went to a physical office, take time off for a proper lunch. Don’t graze for snacks and coffee – it works badly for both productivity and work-life harmony. The same with sleep. Work a full day, sign off, spend time for yourself whichever way you need to, and go to bed on time for a healthy span of sleep. This is important to nourish and recharge yourself. Remote is the present and future of work. It opens up possibilities to travel and enjoy the flexibility of freedom in a never-before way. Make it count for both your work and

life with harmony.