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“Now more than ever we need to take charge of our relationship with our devices and technology. Otherwise, we find ourselves tethered to them by default.”
The results are in…some of us have been squeezing in a whole three extra hours of work a day since packing up and leaving our desks in March. We’ve not only lost office space, but also the daily commute which used to provide the much-needed separation between work and home. This brings us to one of the lesser recognized challenges of the WFH experience in blurring the lines between personal and professional worlds, increasing our time on the grind, and sending us on a one-way ticket to burn out.
Fortunately, we’ve got expert meditation and mindset guide Niraj Shah on hand with his top recommended strategies for separating church and state.
Niraj is a renowned mental wellbeing coach and digital balance expert. He specialises in avoiding burn out and building a healthy relationship with screen time. This week, we’ve been picking his brain for advice on how we can best adapt to our new routines, starting with the foundations for resilience.
In essence, Niraj advises that setting intentional morning routines, work cut off times and pre-bed routines are the most effective ways you can keep from burning out.
“When it comes to creating new routines, you don’t have to follow some famous or successful person’s morning routine. I recommend developing your own simple routine that nourishes your unique life, and importantly that doesn’t involve checking your phone first thing in the morning or last thing at night. If left to autopilot, we will check the phone which then trains our brains to continue doing it more and more on autopilot.”
Some of Niraj’s recommended ways to replace the excess, and often detrimental, screen time in your routine include nourishing your mind by reading, having a morning drink and chat, and at the top of the list — some form of movement or exercise. In the evenings, he suggests planning your next day to avoid the morning email panic.
Niraj also spoke to us about the importance of implementing strict work cut off times to stay off burn out at the home office.
He explains that by having these cut off times, we are able to communicate our availability to others and, most importantly, ourselves. This not only helps avoid disturbances to needed and deserved personal time but holds you accountable too.
Also crucial is the urgency that cut off times create to get tasks done. This way, we can avoid the tendency to expand our work outside working hours while keeping ourselves focused and on task within them.
Consistency is key, and your WFH routine is no different. If you’re struggling to find balance while working from home, we promise you’re not alone, and we’re here to help.
