Making The Most of Working From Home
Content Courtesy of the Forever Young Podcast with Christiana Egi and Cherrie-Marie Chiu.
To some individuals, working from home is a dream come true as they can’t imagine anything better than working from your couch in your pyjamas. On the other hand, many individuals miss the daily routines of physically going into the office and physically seeing their coworkers. Whether you love or hate working from home, it comes with many challenges. Within the past couple years, millions of individuals had to adjust to working from home, forced to face numerous new challenges. In this week’s podcast, we covered some of the challenges that individuals working from home may face, and healthy ways we can deal with them. Listen to the full episode below or keep reading to find out more!
Challenges of Working from Home
Although it is important that we see the positive aspects of working from home, there are often many factors that can make working from home feel like a nightmare. One common challenge can be working from home as a parent, especially of young children. Families working and living within shared small spaces often lead to frustration and distraction.
Another challenge that is commonly faced is isolation. Being isolated all day can be hard, especially when you're an extrovert. Communicating and collaborating gets hard as you are not physically near each other and rely on technology for communication.
Overall working from home can be challenging when every day feels the same. Sometimes when we work and sleep in the same space, it makes it more challenging for an individual to unplug at the end of the day. Managing time and staying motivated gets tough as well, and today we will be discussing some ways in which we can face these challenges.
Dealing with challenges
Cherrie covers some ways in which we can deal with collaboration and communication challenges when virtually working remotely from home. She explains that following a set schedule can drastically increase collaboration and communication between you and your peers. She expresses that scheduling regular calls to discuss things with colleagues is crucial when working remotely from home, as this assures that you are keeping in touch and are able to collaborate despite working apart from each other. This also ensures that we maintain our social relationships with our friends as it helps individuals stay organized and in touch with others.
Cherrie emphasizes the importance of creating a daily schedule for yourself. This schedule can include work time, workouts, destress time, family time, and even mealtimes. Following a daily schedule allows us to portion out our day and naturally create barriers and boundaries between your personal and work life, overall making it easier for you to unplug and destress after a long day.
Cherrie and Christiana express that unplugging from a long day of work can be difficult when you have to go to sleep in your “office”, therefore when working from home it is crucial that you make a space in your home specifically for work. It can be a specific room, like an office, or even a corner in your bedroom. This separate workspace will allow you to separate work from home and allow you to unplug easier at the end of a workday.
When we do not physically leave our homes, it is hard to say motivated to push through long workdays. Staying motivated is a crucial aspect of working from home, as it is easy to lose motivation when working from your bedroom. On days when you do not feel motivated, we should stop to remember why you do what you’re doing. Cherrie expresses that whenever she does not feel motivated, she remembers her brother and is able to recognize the impact her work has on individuals like her brother.
Another way to stay motivated all through the day is to get up and get ready. Get all dressed up, as you would to go physically into work. Get up, make your bed, start your morning routine, and work from your designated workspace. This will still allow you to incorporate a daily routine that will help keep you motivated, even when every day feels the same.
*The Forever Young podcast is created and produced by Christiana and Cherrie Marie Chiu. Produced and engineered by Elisse Hill. The podcast represents our opinions and those of our guests. The content should not be taken as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please consult your health care professional for any medical questions. If you like our show, please tell your friends and leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. New episodes are available every other Wednesday. Have questions? Email us at ourforeveryoungpodcast@gmail.com
