Top 5 Struggles Working From Home and How to Deal With Them

 

 

 

Working from home comes with a lot more freedom and flexibility than going into an office everyday; however, nothing is without a cost. You don't have to deal with a boss breathing down your neck or being stuck in traffic, but working from home comes with its own set of struggles.

• Do I have to get up?

I know my biggest struggle is getting up in the morning when I don't technically have to be anywhere. It's so tempting to roll over and sleep till the last possible minute or just grab my phone and work from bed, neither of which is conducive to a productive work day. It's important to have the day planned out the night before, so when your alarm starts going off you can remind yourself of why you have to get up and what you have to accomplish. Having a structured morning routine will also help with this. Check out my post about My Morning Routine for more advice on establishing a morning routine.

• These dirty dishes are staring me in the face. I'll get wash them real fast, and oh, while I'm here...

In some ways, the home is the most comfortable work environment. In others, it can be distracting when we're faced with everything we need to get done. I conquer this by blocking time on my calendar. I know that from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. I need to be editing my YouTube video, but after that I have a half hour dedicated to doing household tasks that are staring me in the face. It may take some practice before you figure out just how much time you need to allot to all your tasks, but once you get it figured out, you'll be able to manage your day much more effectively. 

• I'm feeling a little peckish. Let me go eat all the contents of my pantry.

I can't be the only one who feels like the work day passes faster when I'm snacking. Which, naturally, leads to over-snacking. I could write a whole other blog posts about ways to manage this, but some good tips are to make sure you have plenty of fruits and vegetable in your home to snack on when the craving hits. And then actually go for those items instead of junk food. You can also use it as a reward to motivate yourself throughout the day. For example, when I'm really wanting a sweet snack, I'll come up with some goal I want to achieve in my work, and once I achieve it, I can treat myself by going to get a snack. Just one snack, though, not the whole pantry.

• My fur baby looks so cozy and I want to nap with them.

This ones tough. My office is in the guest bedroom and my fur babies love to curl up on the bed behind me and beckon me to join them. The best ways I've found to manage this are again time blocking and making it a reward system. I've started giving myself half hour breaks between my blocks of time to allow for tasks to take longer than I anticipate or to allow myself a mini-break. These breaks are a perfect opportunity to get in some cuddles. And, like the food, I'll sometimes use it as a reward whenever I meet my work goal. Word count reached - cuddle with cat!

• I haven't left my house in a month. What's the outside world like, again?

This is one of my biggest problems. I get into the grove of something and don't realize when things start taking a toll on me until it becomes a problem. While it's great to be able to do all your work from you home, you need to find excuses to get out at least once a week. Go run some errands, go to the park on your lunch, take your laptop and work from a coffee shop. When you make the intentional decision to get out regularly, the isolation of working from home will stop creeping up on you.

Which of these have you struggled with the most working from home? Do you have any other big struggles? Share with me in the comments!