The work from home dilemma

I was told all throughout my schooling to never study in the same room that you sleep. Many of my educators theorized that it mixes up your stress signals with your sleep signals. They instead suggested doing homework at the dining room table, or going to a library. But what is the advice now that so many corporate workplaces have moved to a work from home model? To clarify, I know that some workplaces are back in office, and it obviously varies depending on the country you reside in or what your position is. However, to celebrate my one year anniversary of working from my bedroom, I am going to share important lessons and tips I have learnt to separate your personal from your professional life.

In my experience, I distinctly remember the panic and the hustle of trying to make a work from home space within a matter of weeks when the Pandemic first hit. So many of us went from working and transiting from 7:30am to 6:30pm, that when you stepped inside your home it was meant to mark the beginning of your personal time. But now, we wake up, eat, sleep and work all in the same space. Harder yet, when you have multiple people in a household also needing to create functional work spaces, attend meetings or deliver presentations, the line between work and personal life becomes even more skewed. Now, if you have extra rooms or spaces to go around, then it will be a lot easier for you. But for a lot of us "young professionals" (I cringed even writing that) we have a ratio of one housemate to every one room. I believe in many housemate situations an unspoken rule inevitably forms. If your setup requires more than just a laptop, it needs to go in your own room.

With my work being gracious enough to provide both a laptop and a full computer setup with an extra monitor, I opt to work from my room. So how does the theory of not studying and sleeping in the same room fare when extrapolated to working eight hours in the same room that we sleep in? I would estimate for me, the biggest difference was and is a completely different sleep schedule. I regrettably was so excited that I was finally able to sleep in after years of waking up at 7am, that my sleep shifted from 10:30pm to 7am to 12am to 8:30am.

One might look at that and not notice the problem. You may think I am still getting my eight and a half hours of sleep so it is fine? But what this now means is that I have no time to "warm up my brain." Before Covid I had an hour and a half to wake up, eat breakfast and get the bus so my brain was ready once I was physically in office. But now I go straight from my bed and walk 2 steps to my desk. I know this is unhealthy, but the main reason it is happening is because my brain is accustomed to separating out my time. I no longer have the marker of getting off the bus and walking through my front door to tell my brain it can begin to relax and "turn off."

But in attempting to change my routine and in the theme of Spring cleaning my life, here are some things that are helping to re-shape my routine and create a more functional work/life balance.

1- I moved apartments so I had a bigger room

With a bigger room I can now strategically rearrange where my furniture is. For example, I have placed my desk looking outside of one of my windows. This I hope is mentally taking me out of my bedroom and putting me into a different environment. I also face completely away from my bed, mostly to avoid temptation of lying on it during the work day.

2- I invested in noise cancelling headphones

This is more to deal with giving my roommates privacy and also to avoid hearing my neighbors. Basically, I decided that anything that reminds me I am in my bedroom needs to change.

3- During lunch time and after work I force myself to leave the house

This is the absolute BIGGEST must. I have gone walking in sun, rain and even snow to leave my bedroom. Back in office, on my lunch breaks I would walk for an hour just to get some oxygen and re-focus my brain. But for after work, I do this to create a physical/mental marker for myself. Essentially, I am in the process of training my brain to see that work is 9am to 6pm and personal time is 6pm to 10pm. Now obviously you do not have to be outdoors for four hours, but it is more about creating routine. So that when you step back through that front door to have dinner or watch TV you gain back that mental marker.

It must be acknowledged that these tips will differentiate depending on your circumstance, whether that is money, having a family or other commitments. However, ultimately it is about creating a routine for yourself. As they say during the airplane safety announcements "you must put the oxygen mask on yourself, before you can help anyone else." So whether it is finding balance for yourself, or for those around you, I implore you to separate out your day and find what works for you. It may have taken me 365 days, but now I am ready to take on the next 365 if needed. In conclusion, consider this dilemma almost solved and happy one year to all of us that are just trying to make it work.