Pro Tips: Avoid Burnouts When Working from Home

Many of us have been working from home over the past months and, for most, it was a major change, which required a lot of adaptation. While there are some obvious benefits to working from home, especially in terms of preventing the spread of the pandemic, a lot of issues still need to be resolved for remote working to be successful. People mostly talk about technological problems or obstacles in production processes, but one aspect seems to be staying under the radar. Yes, we’re talking about burnouts. The fact is that the same symptoms of burnout appear regardless of where you work, and we need to be able to recognize and avoid them. So, how should we do that?

Creating the right atmosphere

To begin with, you need to feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible while working from home. That means you need a top-quality ergonomic chair because you’ll be spending many hours sitting on it and you don’t want your body to suffer. Also, you might want to invest in a pair of good headphones, which would allow you to enjoy listening to your favorite music and prevent any noise from the house from disturbing you. The better you feel while working, the less likely you’ll be to experience burnout.

Food and drinks

Another very important aspect of working from home is your diet. We all know how an unhealthy diet affects our physical and mental health and working from home poses many risks. That’s why you need to ensure that you eat healthy snacks and avoid ordering junk food. The good news is that you don’t waste time commuting and getting ready for work, which means you have more than enough time to prepare all your healthy snacks and drinks. Focus on fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as nuts. When it comes to drinks, avoid soft drinks and too much coffee, but opt for top-quality smart drinks, which have a positive effect on the brain function by boosting memory, motivation and general cognitive function.

Introduce regular walks

If working from home has affected the amount of exercise and physical activity, you should know that burnout will happen much faster. Namely, you need to be physically and mentally healthy enough to stay concentrated for hours every day, especially in the current circumstances, when many people are really struggling to cope with isolation measures. If you can’t visit your local gym yet, make sure you go out and walk as much as possible. Enjoy seeing green grass, trees, flowers, or landscapes and you’ll notice you have more energy. Finally, introducing regular walks into your routine will also help you take regular breaks, which is important when it comes to stamping out burnout.

Don’t forget to reward yourself

Since you no longer share your office with others, you’ll definitely feel lonely at times. What’s more, you are probably not getting so much feedback from bosses and clients as you used to. All this can lead to more frustration, which, in turn, leads to burnout. One way to deal with this issue is to actually set up a reward system. Decide to do something that makes you happy when you reach a certain goal. It can be anything from allowing yourself a short break after you’ve replied to all emails to treating yourself to a day off once you’re done with a huge project. The important thing is to feel that your work is noticed and appreciated and if no one else is recognizing it, you should.

Introduce a new routine

Every change brings something new to your life, no matter how small it is. So, if you no longer have to travel to work, you can use that time to take up a new hobby. It’s great if that hobby is something that is good for your physical or mental health (or both, ideally!), since that will help you keep your mind off work for a while, which means you’ll feel more energized when you need to resume work. Try yoga classes, chess, cycling, or even cooking, but make sure you prepare healthy dishes.

Set clear boundaries

It’s important to know how much workload you can accept. Working overtime is sometimes necessary, but if it becomes a regular occurrence, it’ll have a very negative effect on your health, and you’ll burn out much faster. That’s why you mustn’t take on more work than you can handle, and you also have to make sure you get free weekends. Your body and mind need time to recover and recharge for the next week and depriving it of the needed rest will have terrible consequences to both your health and the quality of your work.

You’re not safe from burnout, regardless of whether you’re going to work or staying at home. The tasks are pretty much the same, but you need to adapt well to these new circumstances to avoid as many causes of burnout as possible. Following the tips we gave you will definitely put you on the right track, but you’ll eventually find some other protective and preventive mechanisms.