I have worked from home for years before Covid hit.

Work and home life blurring boundaries can be very difficult without hard rules in place to separate them. My biggest issue now is the relentless lockdowns bringing family members into the home. Juggling work in a house when there are two teenagers doing school and University work is a challenge in itself, especially as I am an unsociable creature who is too used to an empty house in the daytime. Checking in on the youngest as he tries his best to avoid school work – the eldest constantly teasing his brother so there is the unexpected roar of lost tempers… It’s enough for me to turn into Smaug at least three times every day.

Having said that, this is how I do it.

1. If you can separate work into a specific room, do it – even if it is the corner of a room such as your bedroom. Something you can shut the door on to switch off later and you can “walk into work”. This helps mentally by switching on when you walk in and switching off when you walk out. If you can’t, then find a way to make the scene different – maybe a tablecloth going on the table at the end of the work day, packing your laptop up and putting it out of sight, throwing a cloth over your set up, placing a screen in the way – anything you can think of to put it out of sight if possible.
2. Dog? Me too! Walks on a morning are great as it wakes you up and acts as a preparation to going into work. I also use the excuse of a dog walk to stretch my legs at lunchtime, and at the end of the work day to create a “close” to the day.
3. When I “go to work”, I make a cuppa, while the kettle is boiling I will wash a few pots, or wipe a side down, or load the washing machine… it helps use the time I am waiting, plus it helps me stop thinking about all those little jobs around the house that suck time away from my work hours and tasks I need to get done to bring the money home.
4. During the day – coffee breaks – I do not work for more than 45 minutes in a stint before having a quick break to refresh my brain and body – I use the time when I am making a cuppa like above – but also, phone calls, shopping lists etc go into this time.
5. Lunch breaks, make sure you have a proper lunch break as you would in the office. If you want to walk the dog at this time also – brilliant!
6. At the close of the workday, I make a to-do list for the next day (work and HOME tasks), I shut my laptop and shut the door on my work.
7. I remember that at work in an office, a lot of time is wasted chatting with colleagues around the kettle, catching up with their lives etc. We may have a 7-9 hour workday in the office, but we also will have travelled to get there. We have a lot of wasted time when you add it up. We don’t actually “work” for all those hours and that applies at home too. I ask myself when would I have normally done the food shopping if I was in an office – then do it at that time. I also remember that working from home fits around ME, not me fitting around work. If possible, if you need to shop in the morning, work later in the evening or do a few hours on a Saturday to make up for Thursdays missing 2 hours…

I hope this helps you all a little. I know how hard it is getting used to working from home. When I made the shift, I was caring for my terminally ill mother and it was the best thing I ever did – even if it was hard figuring how to avoid burnout and juggling everything in a different environment. I even had the “office” in a corner of the garage at one point with a heater – just to separate it out from home life. I also worked many hours/days with the laptop on my knee while I watched my mother sleep in bed because she was too ill to get out.

The point I am trying to make is that life “happens” and we need to make the best of it otherwise it drags us down. If you can make this bit of life a little easier, then its a step in the right direction.