Working From Home: follow these simple planning tips

One of the main issues for many people during the Covid-19 pandemic has been around control. For this of you working from home these tips might help.

Developing a routine and structure for your day can work wonders for your mental wellbeing. Having a timetable or list to look at can help increase your sense of control and help stop you feeling overwhelmed. Try some of the planning tips below to help you take back a little control.

Planning Tips

• Schedule regular breaks. Take time to mindfully drink your tea or spend a few minutes focusing on your breathing. It often helps to do this in another room.
• Create a list of Goals for the week. Break each goal down into an action plan by identifying what you need to do to achieve your goal. Make sure you cross off as you achieve each one. This helps you maintain a sense of progress.
• Prioritise by making a MIT (Most Important Tasks) List. This is another way of making yourself accountable and helps you clear the most urgent tasks out of the way first (Eat That Frog).
• Review your crossed off items at the end of the day. Taking stock of your achievements can help boost mental wellbeing.
• Try a to do list app.  You might find a digital list format works better for you
• Research and try several to find the one(s) that work for you.  I mentioned Eat that Frog earlier.  This is where you tackle the biggest/most difficult/one you really don’t want to do task first.  It gives you a real sense of achievement when you have tackled, maybe even completed it.
• Write your daily to do list the night before. You might find that being able to start work straight away helps increase your productivity. Also, this practice can help you clear your mind and switch off in the evening.
• Tidy your workspace at the end of the day.  Research finds that cluttered environments interfere with your ability to focus.
• Decide on a regular sleep schedule.  When it comes to improving sleep, research suggests that maintaining a regular sleep schedule is of high importance
• Create weekly family/friend traditions. Strengthen family routines through traditions such as “Board Game Fridays” and “Movie Night Mondays”.
• Create a clear line between ‘being at work’ and ‘being at home’.   Putting in, and sticking to, a boundary between work-life can make a big difference to you.  Create rituals to help make this psychical as well as mental.  Put work papers and equipment away.  Call and catch up with family.  Answer friend emails.  Change clothes. etc.  
• Be kind to yourself.  This really is an unusual situation we find ourselves in.  You may suddenly find yourself taking on more responsibility in different areas of your life.  Internal and external expectations might be changing on a daily basis.  Now is the time to be mindful of your inner critic and remind yourself that you can only do the best you can do.