How to work from home: Tips on staying Healthy, Sane and Productive

During this time of uncertainty and unfamiliarity, I thought I'd note down a few thoughts I've had from the conversations I've shared this week.

Fundamentally, to deter away from the potential distress the recent pandemic is causing and it's effect on everyday life and the media, we as individuals must focus on what we can control. 

This should act as i. a great deterrent from the current climate and it's ripple effect and ii. a step (albeit may feel small) towards the right direction. These steps may increase in length if communities can unite and therefore compound their efforts.

Many people are now working from home, be it in split shifts or fulltime. The danger of working from home seems to NOT be not working enough, but in-fact working too much and losing a work-life balance.

With that being said, here are a few ideas of mine:

 With no set office hours, your day may seem completely unstructured and daunting. You lack clarity as to when the working day is meant to begin and end. The truth is, with the right organisation, you are more than able to structure your day effectively and accomplish all of your set tasks. Without infringing on your personal life too.

It's crucial you organise your time and partition windows for your ongoing projects, reactive tasks and meetings/calls. This will not only help better structure your working day but also identify times you can down tools and enjoy periods of freedom in which you can use productively towards achieving your goals.

• Takeaway: Buy a journal/diary with daily breakdowns and block out time accordingly

You can generally find free downloadable versions of these daily planners online

Now that you have differentiated between work and rest for your working day, it's time to fill that free time with something which takes your mind away from the '9-5'. This is the perfect chance to focus on an element of your DNA process which you haven't found time for or struggled with previously. It could range from increasing your daily steps to consistent bouts of cardio in the sunshine, directed mobility work, weighing and preparing your food or even practising meditation. 

Identify an area you'd like to improve upon and utilise this opportunity to do so. Hopefully, as your work life begins to transition back to normality the conscious efforts you make here will manifest into habitual behaviours which you can commit to.

• Takeaway: Find something you'd like to improve upon within your daily routine, nutrition or activity and delegate your rest time from work to doing so

Controlled articular rotations (CARs) are an effective method in regaining proper joint function, improving overall joint health and resiliency whilst incorporating absolutely no resources.

After distinguishing how you are going to be spending your time, a great idea is to segregate the environment in which you work to where you rest and digest. Environmental changes will help the mind switch on or off task accordingly. 

• Takeaway: Separate your workspace from your rest space. Don't eat where you work nor work where you rest.

I hope my collation of thoughts can be of some help to you. To summarise; learn to put down devices, set boundaries with work and incorporate rest periods. Lastly, keep yourself physically active!