How to find the balance when working from home

We’ve all had to make some adjustments this year, whether it’s getting used to having the kids home all day and subsequently heightening your alcohol tolerance, or the endless walks the nation appears to be embarking on, or simply your own home cooking, I think we can all agree we’ll be glad to put 2020 behind us. And while we regain our balance in an ever precariously business as usual, new normal, catastrophe on every corner, reality, here’s a few tips to making the most of finding that balance at home and managing screaming offspring with the testing antics of microsoft teams.

Designate a space

If this hasn’t already been forced upon you in the form of locking yourself in a room to escape the typhoon of toddlers, teens or a spouse that is stretching the wifi bandwidth to an inch of its life while managing conference calls, then it could really do your work-life balance a world of good. Finding a room in the home that instills you with a sense of calm, maybe has a plant, maybe has a nice light flooding window, maybe has a lock on the door, will allow you to focus on the task at hand and separate work time with play time (or wine time). Separating the space as your area of work will help you compartmentalise a little better and help you to turn off once you leave this area and finish your work day to enjoy another part of the house, perhaps the kitchen, the bedroom or even the back garden, if you’re feeling adventurous.

Make a Plan

The last 12 months hasn’t made it easy to plan, that’s for sure. But having a little checklist to get you through the day will help give you that boost of productivity that you need to really get things done. Even something as simple as taking the recycling out can be made exponentially more enjoyable once you get to tick a box next to where you have written it down early that day! Well not really, but you’re a bit more likely to get it done and if you promise yourself a little treat once you’ve ticked off all the tasks at the end of the day, the possibilities are endless.

Make a move

If you and the spouse are fighting over the wifi like it was a mistress or the last rolo in the packet and you’ve had enough of Peppa Pig and Shaun the Sheep taking over your front room just to keep the children distracted and even the dog has been trying to dig his way out, then it might be time for a move. The very best thing about working from home is that you can now move to wherever you like with anything from a beach to a valley to a booming metropolis at your doorstep. Fortunately at the minute there is also a stamp duty holiday, making buying a home a lot easier and considerably cheaper between now and March 31st so you might have to be nippy but it’s certainly worth the haste. Shared ownership is a great option too particularly if you are a first-time buyer and with shared ownership in Brighton, Manchester and Liverpool, wherever you’re looking at relocating propertybooking.co.uk is definitely worth the browse.

Keep Calm and Carry On

While it’s all a bit of a nightmare at the minute in terms of trying to get used to the new god forsaken normal, there is still a lot to be grateful for and reasons to stay positive. Remember, without sounding like a 2010 David Cameron campaign, we’re all in this together and we’ll come out of the other side, better cooks, video call specialist, probable alcoholics but most of all, with a new appreciation of each other.