After 4 years of #workfromhome, I have a love/hate relationship with it. 😅❤️🙃

I love the autonomy, flexibility, and ability to get into deep-focus work. 🕒💻🔒

But as an #extrovert, I do miss the camaraderie and energy of the office. 🤝🏢💔

Here are 5 tips I’ve learned as an extrovert WFH:

(1) Set boundaries and stick to a schedule. ⏰🚫

- It’s so easy for work to bleed into my personal time.
- I’ve found myself working after hours and on weekends regularly.
- I had a horrible bout of burnout a few months ago.
- My body literally gave up and forced me to stop.
- I learned a tough and important lesson.
- On balance and the importance of resting between sprints. 🙏⚖️
- Since then, I have been mindful of setting boundaries and sticking to a schedule as much as possible. 📅🕰️
- I deliberately scheduled breaks during the day
- I also have hard cut-off times on how late I can work.

(2) Batch work. 📚🏋️‍♀️

- As an entrepreneur, this has been a critical lesson to learn.
- When I first embarked on this journey, my day used to be so broken up.
- The day would be randomly interspersed by coaching sessions, client calls, social media work, recording podcasts, answering questions, accounting work, business strategy, hiring candidates, etc...
- And I felt myself getting stretched razor-thin and exhausted. 😓😫
- Today I’ve set aside dedicated days and hours for each of these
- I also set expectations for my clients and employees on timelines. 📅👥⏰

(3) Schedule lunch/coffee with friends, colleagues, and clients. 🍽️☕👥

- As an extrovert, one of the things I missed about WFH the most is human interaction. 💬
- And how I’ve learned to combat this is by scheduling lunches with friends throughout the week. 📆🥗
- This allows me to connect with others
- AND forces me to take a break and step away from work.

(4) Switch up the sceneries from time to time 🖥️📝

- I used to only like to work from my desk at home because I have my monitor set up perfectly. 🖥️💼
- But lately, I’ve found that a change in scenery has given me a boost of energy and focus. 🏞️💪
- For example, I now love writing LinkedIn posts (like this one!) at a cafe. ☕📝
- A change in surrounding has given me a boost similar to going to study at a library. 📚📚

(5) Set up a dedicated workspace when at home. 🖥️🏡

- When I first started working from home...
- I would often find myself trying to work from my couch or bed.
- While comfortable in principle, in practice, it made it hard to focus and separate work from relaxation.
- Eventually, I realized I needed a designated workspace.
- Even if it was just a small corner of my apartment. 📚🖥️
- Having a separate area for work helps me get in the right mindset and stay productive. 💪📝

I hope these tips are helpful for fellow remote workers out there.

Did you relate to any of them?

How do you energise yourself while doing remote work?

#workingfromhome #entrepreneur #careercoach #remotework #hybridwork