Bad Work Habits – When people have to adjust to new circumstances and deal with a particularly stressful situation like the coronavirus pandemic, they forget about maintaining proper habits. Bad habits take over our day in an instant. Luckily, there are ways to identify these bad habits and do our best to avoid them.
Fueling your work day with snacks
When we are stuck at home every day, have the same routines and the same environment, we tend to eat more than usual. Not only do we eat more, but we also eat more snacks. Snacks are great if we time them right and stick to the healthy ones. Unfortunately, apples and carrot sticks are not on the menu. Snacks are probably within the reach all the time and that’s why we always have a bag of something nearby. This is the number one bad habit we need to break when working from home. Focus on eating proper meals and if you have the urge to snack, go and get those carrot sticks instead of tortilla chips.
Too many things running in the background
Our home is where we relax, play music, watch movies, spend time with family and kids. If you have all these things in the room where you’re supposed to be working, that’s a recipe for an unproductive day. Distractions are numerous if you don’t learn how to limit them. Moreover, don’t even think that you can work while you have a movie or a TV docuseries running on your second screen.
The fact that you work on one screen and have something visually attractive running on your second screen can ruin your focus and distract you. When you limit distractions and remove anything that can temper with your focus and productivity, you’ll level up your work-from-home game.
Drinking too much coffee
Just like we snack too much, we probably drink more coffee than we should. This is especially true if we feel like another cup of coffee is a secret productivity boost. The fact that we’re losing focus doesn’t mean we need another coffee. We need a break, to turn our focus from the screen to something else and reduce eye strain.
f you truly crave something warm in a mug but you’ve already had two cups of coffee, turn to tea instead. Even lemon infused water can be an alternative for your coffee drinking habit. If you want to avoid insomnia, nervousness, increased heart rate, and jitters, stick to two cups of coffee a day.
Sitting all day long
Neglecting your posture is one of the things that happen when you sit all day long. After a while, this can be the reason why you feel unpleasant backache, lack of mobility and stiffness. Fortunately for you, there are two ways to avoid this. You should get up every half an hour to take a short break to move your body, do some exercise and light stretches.
You should also find the time to exercise regularly at home and maintain your fitness. If the increase in the activity doesn’t solve your problem, you can sign up for online physiotherapy services and start practicing the right exercises. A skilled physiotherapist will aid you through video conferences and help ease the pain.
Not taking regular breaks
No matter where you work from, breaks are important. Sitting behind a computer without taking any break won’t make you more productive or efficient. On the contrary, it’ll be the main reason why you feel tired, anxious, unmotivated and lack the much needed focus. Learn what works for you best and schedule your breaks from work accordingly. Just remember to take at least one 5-minute break every hour and one longer break on every two hours. Take your lunch break away from the screen. This way you’ll appreciate your meal, chew slowly and relax the tension pent up in your body.
Working the entire day
Bad workplace habits – Working all the time won’t make you a hard worker or even the best one. You need to respect the boundary between work and personal life especially when you are holed up in your place all the time. Start your work early in the morning and finish it when you usually do. Use the time you usually spend on coming home from work to engage in a mindful activity like meditation or a power nap. This can serve like a transition from work to home, even if you just switch from the dining room chair to a living room sofa.
Working from home is quite a challenge but it isn’t the impossible one. When you take hold of your bad habits and replace them with better ones, you will feel better, less distracted and more focused.
