7 Ways to Balance Work and Life

According to WorldatWork http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=53034 , 26.2 million employees’ homes double as their primary workplace. Despite the obvious benefits such as non-existent commutes and pajama work days, there are some major draw backs that lead many employees running back to the corporate life each year, cubicles and all!

If you are one of the 26.2 million working from home or thinking about taking a flex-job, the 9 strategies below will help you to strike a balance between work and life while both are occurring in the exact same space.

1. TRACK YOUR PRODUCTIVITY. Research has consistently and conclusively shown that work-from-homers work more hours a week than their counterparts within traditional corporate structures. Why? Well, without the hassles and daily disturbances of office life (e.g., your officemate’s recent break-up, company-wide safety preparedness training, HR’s new employee recognition ice cream competition), you simply have more time and less work-related distractions, ah-hem, work-related responsibilities. We know form reach that heavy workloads can lead to burnout and turnover. So, keep track of your productivity (not just your time) and when you reach or exceed your goals, stop working.

2. TAKE YOUR LUNCH OUT. Many home-based employees can be found munching on yesterdays’ partially reheated leftovers hunched in front of their laptops when 12 noon rolls around. Breaking this habit and going out for lunch is beneficial for two main reasons. Frist, tied to point one above, it forces you to take a much need break during the day. And, second, it forces you to get out of the home/office and interact with others. The lack of social connections is a big reason many flexible workers return to traditional 9 to 5s. If you have many virtual coworkers, invite them to lunch out with you.

3. SHIFT TIME AND SPACE. Although many of us find comfort in our routines, an extreme lack of variability day-to-day can be a recipe for disaster. Instead of falling into the swings of a typical routine, take full advantage of your flexible status and shift your time around. For instance, no morning conference call? Sleep in and finish up a little latter than normal. Your significant other has a business trip? Tag along and work from the hotel room. Craving a 3 o’clock caffeine injection? Take your laptop and go to a local coffee shop.

4. HAVE A SPACE. No matter how much you like your job or love the work that you do, no one likes to be stuck looking at constant reminders of their work when they should not be working. Get designated workspace, one where all your work reminders, asks, and to-dos can be hidden away at the end of your work day.

5. EXPAND YOUR NETWORK. Working alone can feel like you are one man on an island. Get out and meet people in your field. Conferences are a great way, but they tend to be few and far between (locally). An easy alternative solution – use LinkedIn to find interesting individuals and ask for an informal interview. You can learn a great deal with you start talking to people you look up to. Also, to connect with other tele-workers, try this LinkedIn group: The Virtual Worker https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=6569113

6. LEAVE A NOTE. One seemingly constant source of annoyance for the flexible worker is the lack of control over their surroundings – doorbells and personal phones have a way of ringing when you are in the middle of a virtual presentation. You can’t impact all of these, but you can try to control a few simply with a note. Tell everyone, family, friends, neighbors that you work from home and your typical hours are. Leave a note on the front door saying ‘important meeting underway – please do not disturb’. You may be surprised how considerate people can be when they know you are working.

7. TAKE CAREER DEVELOPMENT INTO YOUR HANDS. Often, work-at-homers are not provided many (if any) training opportunities. This can be a huge problem for you down the road when your skills are obsolete or your most-relied on competencies are overly easy to come-by. Chart out your own career development plan – think about where you are now and where you want to be 1, 5, and 10 years from now. Research what knowledge, skills and abilities it takes to move into those positions (O*Net is a great resource for this https://www.onetonline.org/ ), and get and stick with an individual development plan to get there.

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