Author Archives: Tyler George

When people learned that you are working from home, the first thing that comes to their minds is, “Lucky for you.   You can just lie around and still get paid.”   They thought home-based workers have all the luxury of time to play around and just work a little.

Yes, there are many perks to working from home, like taking breaks when you want or need to, just work in your pajamas, no need to travel for hours or get caught in the traffic.  But like any other job, there is also a downside to it.  Working from home is not always a bed of roses.

“Employees often find themselves struggling to balance workplace demands with a desire to maintain strong relationships or ensure quality family time. That struggle can be emotionally draining and – if allowed to fester without intervention – can lead to more serious mental and/or physical concerns,” explains Nels Magelssen, PsyD, PS.

 

Distractions Kill Work-Life Balance

Managing time is the hardest part of being a work-at-home employee because there are more distractions at home than in an office setting.   There is no boss to call your attention to get you back on track.   If other things eat up your time, your productivity and the quality of your work will suffer.  You may end up spending more time in front of your laptop than you are supposed to, sacrificing time for yourself.

Self-Discipline Combined with Time Management Results in Work-Life Balance

If you wanted to be a home-based worker, you should be ready to have discipline and determination.  Working from home is more comfortable as you have flexible working hours, but you need to have strict rules when it comes to time management. Just watch out for issues like stress and anxiety because “working remotely creates a unique pressure to appear busy,” said Jane Scudder, a certified personal development and career transition coach.

It’s important to establish and maintain a work-life balance when you work from home in order to be creative and productive.   If putting balance in your work and life is neglected, you may lose mental agility, and you will get tired of the everyday monotony.   To prevent this from happening, the following techniques are truly worth trying,

1. Be in control of your time.  It’s your first guard against imbalance.  List your tasks for the day and prioritize.  You will then have an idea of what and how much works need to be accomplished. Read more time management tips here: www.mom365.com.

2. Create a system. This will allow you to manage your tasks well and meet your deadlines with less stress.  Finishing on time means you’ll have some spare time to do your stuff.
3. Have an exclusive workspace. It may be the corner of your room, a nook, or a spare room, any space that is comfortable for you to do your work.  Put boundaries, letting your household members know that this is your workplace.  Fewer distractions more output.
4. Leave your office. When you’re done with the day’s work, leave your work area.   Maintaining the division between your work area and the rest of the house is a way to put balance in your work and personal life.   Take a break, go for a walk, have a coffee break.
5. Disconnect and Reconnect. Learn to disconnect from your social network and other things that may distract you when you are in work mode.  Failure to doing so will result in poor quality of work, low productivity, and finishing late.

When you’re done, disconnect from your work mode and reconnect to the real world.  Have a chat with family.   Go out with friends.  This is the time to enjoy a social life.

 

 

Source: marquetteeducator.wordpress.com 

Work-Life Balance is Happiness

Happiness, satisfaction, and effectivity of working at home will depend on how well you manage your time.  Developing the habits of proper time and task management, putting boundaries on your workspace and the rest of your home, and learning how to disconnect and reconnect will make you most effective even without your boss peeping behind your shoulder now and then.  Having a healthy work-life balance will allow you to enjoy the full benefits of working from home.

“Now, I block time off on my work schedule for family time, self-care and also try to be realistic and generous with regard to how much time I will spend traveling or preparing for meeting, sessions or consultations. Building in an extra 10 or 15 minutes to catch up or ensure I have time to eat lunch without rushing also goes a long way. I’ve made changes in my schedule to work from home several days a week to spend mornings and afternoons with my kids because they grow up so fast,” a reminder from Stephanie O’Leary, Psy.D. who also works from home a few days a week.

 

 

Sometimes we do things unconsciously, and this often leaves us with not so good results.  It’s like eating chocolates unconsciously, telling yourself, “just this once.”  Every time, that’s what we say to ourselves,  not noticing the calories, sugar, and fat building up in your body. Finally, one day you wake up and look in the mirror, and alas – you’re now a chubbo.

The same goes for work.  Sometimes, unconsciously we do things that we don’t realize disrupts our productivity.  “People check their phones every 15 minutes or less, even if they don’t have any alerts or notifications,” according to psychologist Larry Rosen. We become so occupied and enjoy those outside forces too much that it eventually becomes a habit – a habit that pulls our productivity trajectory down.

 

Eating Habits

Skipping breakfast is not a good idea, but that’s what most of us are doing. Breakfast fuels our body to perform its work correctly.  Omitting it will mean getting tired quickly and might even make us dizzy, making us less productive.

Eating meals right at your desk makes you less creative and may leave your work area a mess.  Use lunch breaks as an opportunity to socialize and network.  It’s more rejuvenating than eating alone.

 

Saying Yes to More Tasks

Being pressured with so much to do keeps you out of balance, both at work and your private life.  Taking on more than you can handle hinders your happiness, creativity, and productivity.

 

Not Listening

It’s easy to look like you’re listening, but how much of it do you actually understand and how much is retained?   Listening is a skill one must develop, especially listening during a meeting.  Time is wasted and so is your productivity compromised when you miss some critical instructions.  The tendency is to go back again and re-do things over again.

 

Not Asking For Help

Don’t try to be a know-it-all person.    Ask when you’re not sure.  Collaborate with your co-workers.   And sometimes, it’s okay to ask for help when it’s impossible to meet a deadline.  Always bear in mind that two heads are better than one.

 

Social Media

Turn off your social media when not necessary.   Sometimes just a peek gets you hooked, not noticing it already snatched your time away.

 

Notifications and Emails

Browse notifications and emails during breaks.  Check which ones need an immediate reply and which ones can wait for later.   Being stuck on those emails and notifications will really hurt your productivity and will delay your work which is stressing.

 

Phone Calls

Phone calls are best at distracting you at your most creative moment, and after a call, it’s difficult to refocus.  Put your phone in silent mode when working or better put it away when you’re not expecting important calls.   For emergency calls, you can instruct your family to use the landline so the secretary can inform you that you got an emergency call.

 

Multitasking

According to Kendra Cherry MS, a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, “In the past, many people believed that multitasking was a good way to increase productivity.” Not all are effective when they multi-task. In fact, most become less productive and more stressed.  Avoiding multitasking is hard to do, but it can be done and swiping through your phone or browsing the net while doing your work or while on a meeting if not necessary so you can focus.  Practice focusing on one task at a time until it becomes a habit you develop.

 

 

Things you do unconsciously can develop a habit that can become a thief that will snatch your productivity.   It may seem pleasurable at present but will it will definitely hurt your efficiency and leave you stressed in the long run.    Have the courage to break these habits now and work on a well-balanced and prosperous life.

“Goal-setting in psychology is an essential tool for self-motivation and self-drivenness – both at personal and professional levels,” a parting note from Madhuleena Roy Chowdhury, BA, certified psychiatric counsellor.

 

 

 

You’ve planned things well for your career and your family life.   Now, it’s time to check the reality of what’s happening in your workplace and your private life.  As what Shawn M. Burn Ph.D. said, “Work-life balance is important because it affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.” Think which part of your plan is doable and which part of it needs change.    How hard is it really to achieve work-life balance in your situation now, from your workplace to your house roles?

Time To Check The Happening Inside Your House

Life as a parent, single or not, demands many things.  Children often will not understand why you have to always be at work.  They may accept that you don’t have enough time for them because they have no choice, but deep inside them, they struggle.  There are many questions in their mind, like why you don’t have time for them.

Time To Check On Your Life On A Loop

Are you living like a robot – working hard for years where everything has been the same.  Waking up each morning doing the same routines, prepare the children, prepare to go to work, work, come home, prepare the kids for bed, still do some chores while kids are asleep before you can rest yourself.   Then same thing again tomorrow.  Is this really what you’re meant to do?

Time To Check Your Workplace

Walking in and out of that office door several days in a week, and sitting on that same chair, browsing tons of paper works. You can hardly take the afternoon off or leave the job early for your child’s school activity, and now you’re taking on more responsibility.  Is this your career goal? Organizational psychologist Jeffry Pfeffer of Stanford University argues “many organizations and corporations are so focused on profits and other efficiency indicators that they ignore workplace stress and provide insufficient vacation and sick days.”

Time To Check On Yourself

As a mother and a wife, you are obliged to take care of your partners and your children, but how about yourself? Can you still take more? Have you achieved what you have been aiming for? Is this what you really want for your life?  Or is it time to make changes? “Non-procrastinators focus on the task that needs to be done,” explained Joseph Ferrari Ph.D.

Changes Will Happen One Step At A Time

Check, analyze, and see what changes are needed to be done to improve and put balance in your career and family life.  Making changes is hard because routines and mindset should be broken.  It means making sacrifices. It will never be easy, but if you will think of it as making compromises and prioritizing, it is doable.

Time To Instill Values in Your Kids

Home is where your heart always is.  But the heart is not enough. The mind should also be present.  Training your kids, giving each one responsibility, and keeping them involved will make them understand.  Make house chores a time to bond.  This will make house works easier for you and will give you more time to be with them and enjoy time together.

Time To Speak – Your Voice Matters

Having a voice in your workplace would be great.  We are in the modern world now where though equality is still a big issue; you have the freedom to voice out your right and the freedom to choose how you want to be treated.   All of us have responsibilities to take on, but taking on more than you can handle and not saying a word about it is sometimes the problem.  Nothing will change in your present situation if you will not do anything about it.

Time To Leave Your Comfort Zone One Step At A Time

The reality is, making changes is never easy. It will mean coming out of your comfort zone.  But if you will not take action, how will things change? How will your situation change?  Reality check is not just checking on what’s wrong, but realizing that it’s about time to do something.   You need to change some things for the benefit of your household, for the benefit of your workplace, and for your own.

As mentioned also in Family Very Well, balance in life is hard to achieve, but it’s the balance that will bring happiness and satisfaction.  The happier you are with your life, the more comfortable your family will be.  The happier you are in your workplace, the more productive, creative, and accomplished you will.

Do you find it difficult to find the perfect balance between work and your personal life? As what Shawn M. Burn Ph.D. said, “Work-life balance is important because it affects the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.” Is it a complete struggle to advance in your career without sacrificing your health or happiness? If yes, check out the list below for the top five things to do to achieve the right amount of work-life balance.

 

 

1. Learn how to say no. “Non-procrastinators focus on the task that needs to be done,” explained Joseph Ferrari Ph.D. Do not make yourself available 24/7 to your boss or team leader. Take note that you can remain a productive and efficient employee without doing overtime every night. Make sure to complete all tasks or errands within the working hours. When the clock strikes at five, it is a clear indication that the work for the day is over. Hence, when the boss asks you to do something after the 5 PM, learn how to say no politely. There is no need to feel sorry for it or to justify your actions.

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Being busy the whole day doesn’t mean you’ve become productive at all.  Many times, we hear people complaining about how very little time there is when there are so many things that need to be accomplished.  But do you believe you can accomplish many things with your time and still have spare time to do other fun stuff? It’s called time management. Melanie Greenberg Ph.D. says that “The key is to take control of your time, rather than letting time control you. One study found that people who were under time pressure and felt they had control over their time reported greater life satisfaction, felt less overloaded, and had less tension than those who were equally busy, but felt they had little or no control over their time.”

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Have you seen sponsored advertisements on Facebook about life gurus, mentors, and influencers who are selling their services to be your life coach? It might seem like a simple concept, but it may be vague to some. A life coach is a person who aims to help people meet their set goals whether it is their personal or business lives through guidance much similar to a sports coach although the methods utilized by life coaches will vary greatly.

The concept of a life coach might not be a popular choice for them in the past. Naturally, people turn to family, friends, mentors, and teachers for help and guidance. Life coaching is similar, but it is just a professional extension of that kind of support. Life coaching is also a form of counseling which involves a series of individual sessions which are done through the telephone, email or face to face to help people solve their problems and achieve their ambitions. The coach draws influence from different disciplines such as sociology, psychology and various counseling and therapies.

The primary goal of life coaching is to help individuals break their negative belief patterns, disruptive behaviors and specific goal setting in reaching for what they want from life. Most coaches are trained as a generalist, but many also specialize in particular areas like finances, creativity, personal growth, work-life balance, stress, careers, business and many others.

Nowadays, people are more receptive to the idea of getting a coach which a sign that it is in fact useful. Anybody can hire a coach to better themselves, but there are telltale signs that having a coach is the right option for you.

“The biggest difference between coaching and therapy, in my view, is that the theory that guides my work as a therapist can explain how coaching does or does not work, while theories that guide coaches can’t do the same about therapy. This difference, while true, seems inconsequential to me. What matters is that people get help in their efforts to grow, master their problems and become more effective in their lives,” says clinical psychologist Michael Bader.

You don’t have a clear vision, or your view is overwhelming.

 

 

People might want a lot of things in life that it can get complicated and chaotic in process. Others have a general view of how they want their lives but don’t have a clue on the specifics in attaining those goals. “You can see the problem without feeling overwhelmed with anxiety or sadness even though the problem is still there. In that way, therapy can help you re-contextualize the problem you’re dealing with in order to make a strategy to help you move forward,” according to Dr. David Spiegel, one of the nation’s most respected experts in the clinical uses of hypnosis. His statement refers to coaching.

Your patterns are not in conjunction with your goals.

You now have the vision, and the ways to achieve those goals are already in place. Another hurdle to conquer is self-sabotage or commit adverse decision associated with your bad habits. It shows lack of sincere commitment to making your dreams into a reality. A good coach will help you clear these roadblocks and reach levels of personal responsibility and growth you have never accessed before.

You’re easily irritable.

Are you impulsive and gets angry quickly about small things? Are you usually in the state of reaction? Do you sometimes wonder why you fight so hard? These personal issues are best explored together with a coach to resolve deep-seated conflicts within yourself or your past.

 

You are currently undergoing a massive transition.

 

 

You are planning to make a massive career shift or facing a life transition, and you wouldn’t want to continually burden your family and friends for advice, recommendations, and suggestions on various options. A life coach helps you deal with the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty of transition.

 

You are craving for a purpose.

You have gained success in your chosen field but still feel unfilled. Maybe, a life coach is the one to help sort things out. Certified life and executive coach Stefanie Ziev explains about coaching – “This really works for people who are seeking more meaning in their lives, personally and professionally. It clarifies your purpose… particularly when you’re feeling depleted in life.”