LIFE IN BALANCE

Working from home can ruin your chances of meeting your goal of 10,000 steps daily without a dedicated routine. You need to take responsibility, and put in an effort to stay energized, healthy and strong.

• Take regular breaks to stand up, stretch and rest your eyes from that screen. Always warm up in the morning. Do some mobility work at lunch and set yourself simple challenges like 20 squats whenever you get a cup of coffee - try this mobility workout.
• Exercise at home, go for a walk, run at lunch, train outdoors or plan a visit to the gym if it is still open. If not, it’s time to start planning that home studio experience with our unique tool kit.
• Eat properly. The risk of nibbling away at candy and junk food is greater at home than at most offices. Plan your meals wisely around your work and training routine.

Work-life balance is a real challenge when working from home. But it can go both ways. Either you end up distracted by the temptations of the home environment and end up unproductive at work. Or, you end up working all the time, at all hours, all over the place. Consider these three tips to help you be more effective when working from home:

• Separate a work area from the rest of the home. Designate a work desk and make it as ergonomically sensible as you can. Don’t work all over the house. De-clutter - a tidy desk means a tidy mind. 
• Dress for action. Suit and tie might be overkill, but no pajamas or dressing only from the waist up. Things happen. You might need to stand up in the middle of that video meeting. Comfy, flexible, smart gear that you can move around in works best.
• Apply office hours. Start on time. Take a lunch break. Close the office. Don’t let work merge uncontrolled with leisure time. But, of course, this is a great chance to – consciously – inject a refreshing walk at midday.

The problem with mixing our professional and personal lives is that it can often negatively impact our performance in both. Just take a look at the myth of multitasking and you can see the extent to which the quality of our work can drop off whenever we are not completely focused on what we are doing. Awareness and attention really is our superpower when it comes to productivity.

• Start with a morning meditation - prime yourself to face any challenge and distraction that might come on your way with presence and stability of mind. The key here is to do this exercise as soon as you wake up and before your senses get assaulted with various demands. 
• Plan your day by Journaling – writing down your goals for the day not only helps you organise your thoughts but more importantly, it provides guidance on how you wish to consciously create your day. Focusing on three key priorities for the day will provide a roadmap to your brain to follow.
• Be Grateful That You Have a Job - showing appreciation for your work, even if you don’t feel engaged by your day-to-day activities not only makes your day more pleasant, but it also puts things into perspective.