Disconnect From Instant Feedback And Urgent Responses
During the course of working at home, we've learned to keep ourselves intact in a system that requires us to provide instant feedback and urgent responses. We have also learned to crave the feedback of notification either auditory or visual.
Our hearts race when we hear that "ping". To lessen this feeling we must learn how to de-program ourselves from being connected all of the time. Learn how to disconnect from your devices and purposefully take some time off to cool down.
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When work isn't a place you leave at the end of the day, it can get incredibly difficult to stop. It is important to learn how to stop working. This is a practice that fosters the creation and development of good habits and it is also necessary because it keeps our bodies from burning out.
Try setting concrete limits with the amount of time you spend on tasks by creating a reasonable to-do list, scheduling your day based on that list, and closing your computer after finishing said tasks.
It's totally understandable that from time to time we get stuck on a worry spiral. However, getting stuck in fear and getting filled with anxious automatic thoughts is not helpful to our health and productivity.
We tackle this by being mindful of our present situation by understanding what is currently making our bodies anxious right now. After identifying the triggers then we can move on to reacting from being on auto-pilot to mindfully managing our response.
Sometimes we just need to keep our body moving and take action because when we do this it gives us a moment to feel good because we've achieved doing something wether it may be just replying to an acknowledgement email or exercising.
Choose a small and meaningful action that will help build your motivation to work and tackle bigger tasks moving forward.
If it feels impossible to finish a simple work task and you still can't get your mind to calm down, a non-work-related task can aid this feeling.
Cook hot pot, sing some songs, or doodle, after doing non-work-related tasks, be mindful of your situation and ask yourself how long can you continue until anxiety hits again. Is this specific activity able to get you in a task-tackling mood?
It doesn't mean to say to keep soothing yourself until you aren't able to do work anymore, but more so where you're able to soothe yourself well-enough to finish a task until you can't anymore.
Like all skills, it takes time to learn how to manage one's workdays anxiety. Just keep in mind to be compassionate towards yourself at all times and things will go well, eventually.
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For freelancers, clients don't usually care about your working hours, as long as you get projects in on time. Introduce a routine that works around when you are most productive, even if it means working in the evening instead of the morning. Just make sure you have a set start time and a set finish time.
Environmental associations are cues from your working environment that tell your brain "I'm in the office, so it must be time to work." Most of them are assimilated subconsciously (for example, your office space, the draft you always feel coming from the air duct next to your desk, and the view as you look out your office building's window.)
But when you work from home many of these associations are gone and your brain receives a confusing mix of "work time" and "relax time" cues.
Either you just take a walk around the block for 15 minutes or have an extreme workout session at the gym, it can help get your mind off of work.
Sometimes its better to get your blood going, stretch your limbs, and transition into relaxation mode.