These are wacky times. This is probably the most you’ve ever seen the inside of your home. Every single day can start to feel the same because you are in the same place.
Day after day, hour after hour.
For those of us with a morning routine, that routine is likely allowing us to prepare for a work mindset. We go through our routine, and then we probably have some type of clear start to our workday. We’re not getting into the car and traveling to the office, but for the most part, our morning is probably pretty natural, and then we start work.
Work vs. Personal Time
I want to talk about is the rest of the day. How is the rest of our day broken up between work and personal time? Those are starting to blend together for a lot of people. There’s no finish time on work and start on the personal time or vice versa.
Some people have abandoned their work. They are either getting distracted or have gotten into the routine of not getting tasks done. Others are working all day every day, without taking a break for personal or family time.
Improve your work environment.
If you haven’t already adjusted, it is time to improve your work environment. Number one, get your workspace locked in where you can have no distractions during the day. A place that your family understands is your work zone, so that you can stay focused and complete necessary tasks.
Get up and move.
While it is essential to have a secluded space to work, you also want to make sure you aren’t sitting in the same place for 10 straight hours. A lot of times when we’re out on appointments, we’re getting in or getting out of the car, we’re moving, going inside or outside. We’re going from place to place. Right now, you need to make sure you are creating that type of action and energy by getting up and moving your body throughout the day.
When you have lunch, go take a walk. Instead of getting 10 coffees or snacking throughout the day, step outside and take a quick walk or move your body in some way.
End your workday.
Make sure you have an end to your day. It could literally just be sitting verbally and saying, ‘This is the end of my day,’ and closing the laptop.
And I get it. You’re going take a couple of calls after that when they come in. But I’m talking about the bulk of your projects, whatever was time blocked and scheduled out for you. Declare at the end of the day, with some type of action, that this is final.
A lot of times, the drive home marks the end of the day. And now you may just be staying in the same place. So create a meaningful endpoint to your working hours.
Create meaningful routines.
If you don’t implement these things, everything starts to blend together. And you just have this big mush of staying home, creating habits that make it difficult to unwind.
Create segments to your day, making sure that you’re still doing your normal time blocking, and when you wake up in the morning, do all of the things you normally would do – take a shower, get dressed, and prepare yourself for the day ahead.
After starting your day with meaningful purpose, take breaks in the day that pull you out of your chair. Finally, have an end to your day that’s meaningful so you know you can get back to the things you should be doing in your personal life and investing into your family.