Managing stress in your home office
- Written by Cara Barilla; Hair, Beauty & Wellness Educator
Working from home may be a great advantage, however for many it might be hard when living in a busy family household or even a household where you are sharing your home with flat mates.
Regardless of the bonus of working from home, if you are not balanced on the inside you’ll most certainly see the stress transform into your work.
Your working household may be stressful to you as you are constantly looking at home chores that need to be attended to, homelife settings that need to be changed or even your work mood which needs to be altered.
Here are some ways to help ground yourself, balance your daily life and help yourself during the working from home lifestyle.
Start the day fresh: it’s important to start the day feeling “ready” and enthusiastic to work. Mentally prepare yourself that you are going to invest in x amount of hours of your work. Many people like to start the day by simply taking a hot shower that way they will feel more fresh and “work ready” mentally, or even starting the day with a clean and healthy breakfast. The start of the day creates a massive ripple effect for The rest of the day so it’s important that you start what’s right for you. You will see a huge difference from starting the day clean and healthy as opposed to starting the day by sleeping in til noon, not showering, eating junk food and not mentally organising yourself for hardwork and personal growth.
The saying “Where there’s your comfort zone, nothing changes”; Can definitely relate to those who don’t make a conscious effort to rise above bad habits and change their lifestyle for the better.
Stretching exercises: Many stretching techniques can definitely improve posture, mental clarity and overall positive health. For those who don’t take time to stretch during the day will start to feel a positive change once implemented within your daily life. Take about 30mins a day to just stretch your back and release and tension that may build up when sitting in the same position for hours at a time might do. It’s a good idea to slot a time each day for stretching and a quick meditation fix. This will help re energise your mind and might even bring new ideas to the table.
Make small goals: A great way to help release stress within your workload is to create mini goals. mini daily goals can give you a sense of achievement and accomplishment and will ultimately give you a great routine where you will be able to tackle on heavier daily tasks. Small goals could include: “ reach out to 5 potential clients today”, “create a new loyalty discount” “create an incentive for loyal clients” or even “ post on social media a business update to engage clients and to sustain loyalty”.
Don’t forget to laugh: Its crucial for your mood, mind and body to function with ease. If we don’t get a mental positive release our body will continue to tense up and will be a large distraction to our workload. Don’t forget to take at least half an hour a day to do something that will help boost your mood. That could be even simple daily joys such as: calling a family or friend for a laugh, watching something motivational and lighthearted, playing with your children or pets or even listening to “feel good music” which can take you to a fun and positive place.
Set the mood: Many people who’ve mentioned they are stressed at work usually find its due to their surroundings and how their senses react to their surroundings on a positive or negative level. Try to understand and break up your senses of touch, taste, sight, sound and smell. For example:
Touch; Are you sitting in a comfortable position and have comfortable supportive furniture? Taste; try to have a cup of tea, coffee, fresh fruit or nuts beside you. Personalise to what can make your experience working from home a bit more lighter for your sense of taste. Many people find after eating a mint, or brushing their teeth could be effectively recharging. Sight; Is your lighting comfortable, professional and can you see your work properly? It’s important to take care of your eyesight and not to take advantage of bright lights. Sound; ensuring your sense of hearing is healthy and balanced is important for a healthy workload with no distractions. Now is the time to personalise to set a healthy surrounding. Smell; You’d be surprised how poor scents around the household can effects ones mood. You can alter this by opening the window, making a tea or coffee, cleaning your house, bins and surfaces, adding diffusers into your room or even adding a drop of essential oils onto your skin or clothing.
Hydration: it’s important to hydrate yourself to prevent dizziness, cloudy minded thinking and even fatigue. Overall if we aren’t drinking enough water a day we can’t property function as humans and reach our full potential. Try to avoid too much caffeine, limit your alcohol intake completely and stay focused on a “healthy work day” which means choosing the healthier alternative. As this will consequently ripple into positive working results.
Give yourself credit: It’s important to stay humble and not over reward yourself at times, however if you feel you have pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and competed daily tasks it’s important to give yourself credit and highlight your hardworking positive milestones for example; if you’ve reached a large target goal many people can reward themselves by finishing an hour early from work that day, stop work to take a long hot bath or even step outside for a jog. Once you see positive growth within your business it’s important to give yourself gratitude without over spoiling yourself. This may essentially motivate yourself to reach new heights.
