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With most of us still working from home, it’s created a major shift in the way we get work done.

Whether you’ve been busy managing Zoom meetings, using technology to stay connected, or just trying to stay productive while juggling it all, you’re not alone. In addition to changes in our day-to-day operations, a lot of people are working longer hours while doing WFH. One of the key reasons why so many people are facing burnout and exhaustion right now is because they haven’t established a healthy life-work balance.

To help you create a happier life-work balance while working from home, here are 6 tips to keep you inspired.

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Begin Your Day By Meditating

Before you jump out of bed, make your coffee, or check emails or the news, begin your day by meditating. Productivity experts, personal growth gurus, and life coaches all tout the benefits of starting your morning with a meditation practice. This helps you boost mental clarity, feel more focused and centered, and emotionally ground yourself.

Combined with deep breathing exercises, this process helps to oxygenate your brain, increase your energy level (naturally), and enable you to visualize your intentions for the day. By doing this each morning, you will find that your day flows more smoothly and that you’re able to more easily handle any challenges that do arise.

As shared in an article on mindbodygreen, “Meditation activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which triggers a deep state of relaxation during the practice. So even though you may wake up from sleep still tired, after meditating for 20 minutes, you’ll get energy-boosting endorphins that’ll help you spring to life without having to rely solely on caffeine. (It also) helps filter out the internal and external “noise” and negative self-talk that can sabotage our otherwise sharp, clear perceptual acuity. Meditation is like kryptonite to stress, with the primary side effects being increased happiness, better sleep, and more creativity. If there ever was a perfect solution to dissolving stress, it would be daily meditation.”

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Learn Something New Each Day

To keep yourself feeling inspired, motivated, and excited to grow and prosper, commit to learning something new each day. Whether you read a book, catch up on interesting magazine articles, or watch an online video about something that can benefit your business (like social media marketing or web design), by learning something new each day, you’ll stimulate your mind in a healthy way. This will lead to increased productivity, a sense of accomplishment, and expanded awareness. All of these factors can contribute to a greater sense of happiness and personal fulfillment as you continue to WFH.

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Keep Your Home Office Clean & Tidy

One of the keys to being happy and productive in a WFH environment is to keep your home office clean and tidy.

Whether you have a designated room to call your home office, or you just have a tiny desk in the living room with your laptop on it, to boost your productivity and keep you from feeling drained, keep this space clean and tidy. In addition to organizing the physical space where you work from home, organize your computer files and paper files too. When your WFH space is clean and tidy, it will motivate you to get things done. Plus it makes tasking more enjoyable, as your brain won’t feel overwhelmed looking at piles of paper or projects that have to be done.

In her new book called Joy at Work, world-renowned organizing expert and best-selling author Marie Kondo says, “we can only truly spark joy in our work life when we have put every aspect of it in order, including emails, digital data, work-related tasks, and meetings.”

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Take Wellness Breaks Throughout The Day

To naturally boost your energy, give your mind and body a break, and to enhance your ability to problem-solve and come up with creative ideas, it’s helpful to take wellness breaks throughout the day. From a quick stretching exercise to alleviate tight muscles (especially from sitting) to invigorating yoga moves, during your workday, take breaks every hour. Even short breaks (that last for only 10-minutes) can make a world of difference in how you feel.

It can also be helpful to just step outside on a patio, have a cup of hot tea, and do some deep breathing exercises.

I’ve personally noticed that new ideas often come to me during these mini-breaks, as my mind has a chance to more deeply reflect and ponder on solutions, rather than getting bogged down with tasks and to-do lists.

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Feel Proud of Accomplishing Big & Small Tasks

We often take our accomplishments for granted. Once we become skilled at something (whether it’s writing a great email, designing marketing materials, or strategizing a plan), we don’t think much of it. However, one of the keys to boosting our happiness in our work life is to feel proud of all our accomplishments, both big and small.

From simple tasks (like reading all your emails) to bigger projects (like launching a new product in the marketplace), when you keep an on-going to-do list that includes both big and small tasks, your sense of accomplishment and personal fulfillment will soar as you check off each completed task.

Our feeling of happiness (relative to our career) is often linked with our sense of personal satisfaction. When we feel purposeful, productive, and on a path of growth, we feel happiest. That’s why keeping track of everything we are doing right now adds up in the long run.

While we might not be able to do everything we want to right now (given all the shelter-in-place limitations), by focusing on what we can do and by taking action each day makes a world of difference in how we feel.

How To Create a Happier Life-Work Balance While Working From Home

Occasionally Change Up Your WFH Setting

When you need a change of pace or just to escape the noise of a busy household, grab your laptop and head somewhere else. From a coffee shop that has outdoor seating (and solid wifi) to a restaurant with a patio, sometimes just escaping to a different setting can give you the mental boost you need to get work done.

When we change our routine and give our minds something new and novel, it can help stimulate creativity and problem-solving skills, as it requires us to be more present. This occasional change in the WFH setting can be a great way to “reset” your mind during this time period and to enhance your sense of life-work balance.

For more tips and ideas on how to be happier, check out this article on I&C.


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