Work life can be equally as stressful as personal life, if not more. This especially true when your home becomes your workplace. The boundaries between professional and personal life are blurred and it’s easy to forget to take care of yourself. Tech professionals need to tackle their daily stresses in order to be happy, healthy and more productive.

Practicing self-care goes a long way toward helping battle those stressors and can have great benefits for your mental and physical health. Don’t feel guilty about taking time to care for yourself. It’s not selfish to make your health a priority. And it’s not just for you, either: You will be better able to help others when you are your healthiest.

You cannot control everything life throws your way, but you can control how well you take care of yourself. Here are four ideas to practice self-care when working from home to increase happiness and bring back balance to your life. Read full article at https://blog.gurock.com/four-ideas-for-self-care-at-work/

Simplify Your Schedule

Although you may be frequently tempted to, it is best not to overpack your day with too many discussions or online meetings. Spending too much time talking about work rarely leaves you with the time or energy to get any actual work done during the day, leading you to burn the midnight oil.

Set a limit to spend a maximum of two hours in meetings per day. Keep your calendar open for others to see and let them know they can schedule time with you only up to that limit and within the hours you are most comfortable with. This will give you a simpler schedule and not take away your most productive hours with meetings.

Similarly, create a simple schedule for your personal tasks, chores, and things to do around the house each day and set some time aside to get them done. You will feel so much better doing things and checking things off your list, instantly adding a boost in your productivity.

Avoid Stress Triggers

Although it is easier said than done, you must make special efforts to avoid any known triggers or stress-inducing things at work, as well as while working from home. Some situations, people or types of interaction may leave you zapped of energy and feeling bogged down. If you look for these situations and learn to recognize them, you can then make an effort to avoid those scenarios, saving your energy and giving you better mental health.

Let’s say a team is used to having a daily update meeting at the end of the day, but one person may not be comfortable with being on a video call for some reason. They can be vocal about it and say they would like to join via audio on most days except when absolutely necessary. It may not change much for others, but it will serve that person for the benefit of their mental health and comfort.

Similarly, if a one-to-one interaction with a certain person always leaves you agitated or disturbed in some way, step up and request someone from your team or your manager to overlook that interaction. Better still, see if you can have the interaction over email or chat instead of a call.

Take Breaks

It is easy to get caught up with the tide of work and be on the go all day. Especially when you work from home, you might lose the sense of time and a limit to your workday. But it is equally important to take regular breaks……. Continue reading

Learn to Say No

How often has it happened that you were in the zone with your work, got interrupted by someone for a short chat, and when you went back to your work you had totally lost your train of thought? You end up spending hours trying to think of the same idea or to get back into the same flow, leaving you frustrated……. Continue reading