The onset of the coronavirus pandemic has truly tested our limits in adapting to newer, confined, minimalistic scenarios. People who had been habituated to commute several kilometers everyday to work, or spend their weekends exploring the city are now constricted to the walls of their homes, finding work, entertainment and relaxation - all in the same environment. With every facet of your life intermingling, it can be quite challenging to put into routine your work, self care and other related aspects.

Self management while working remotely
 

Optimum team health and productivity is every organisation's topmost priority. Since your home is also your office now, a balance of work from home wellness can only be stricken when there’s enough space for both work and leisure. Equally important is that these areas remain clearly demarcated from each other and also fully equipped to perform the functionalities of the sphere they belong to. Take your first weekend off to change around everything that you need to in order to simplify your life amidst the chaos. While looking to organize yourself and also your surroundings, keep these points in mind -

• Having a routine can be highly beneficial especially in times of distress or uncertainty as it serves as a reminder that you have things to look forward to. It also helps your body run on a similarly timed clock each day, hence steering clear of physical ailments like lack of sleep, lethargy etc. Apart from getting tasks done, a routined lifestyle makes way for discipline as well - a self care element that everyone is striving for in a remote environment. This video entails some useful tips for self management while working remotely. 

• One of the most challenging tasks of working remotely is to create a space for your official work and demarcate it from your daily tasks - and also letting your family know about it.The demarcation should be clear enough to let everyone around you know when your working hours are, so that no other work is assigned to you by anybody during that time and your work environment remains distraction free.
• Given that you now have all the time you could hope for, declutter all the messy areas of your house to make the place more breathable. Utilize every nook and corner to fit your new needs and associated equipment. The time invested into making your place fully functional initially will have far reaping self care benefits in the longer run. Now is the time to make all the pending donations of stuff you no longer use.
• The mind wanders when it is let off - hence, the trick is not to. Pretend that you’re not working remotely - if you have a space that you can lock for substantial hours a day, nothing like it. Set boundaries. What is something you’d never do during office hours? Don’t do it even while working from home. Reserve things like listening to loud music, playing with your pets or napping for after office hours. 
• Allocate some time to personal fitness, as now is the perfect time for self development while working from home. The mind and the body are connected in more ways than one, and self care for one acts as fuel for the other. In a remote environment there is a greater possibility to ace your unfinished fitness goals since you’ve been saving quite a bit of time. Enroll yourself in a gym, go running or get a trainer - tap on available resources to push down this button too.
• Take the help of technical assistance wherever you need it, be it fitness apps, meditation reminders or to do lists. All the added responsibility that you’re taking upon yourself while working remotely doesn’t have to feel like a burden, rather this should be an exercise to restore self care and regain the order of your life.
• Goals give you a vision, a path that needs to be walked on. Be it your personal or your professional life, setting goals will help you a great deal in incorporating transparency between your act and the bigger picture. By doing the task you’ve assigned to yourself today, are you moving close to your goals?
• Ace all unfinished business. Turn adversity into an opportunity by making use of all the extra time in your hands. Now is the time to tick off other pursuits like taking up yoga, building your own website, learning a new language, etc. Explore every creative outlet your mind leads you to - the possibilities are endless!
• With so much on your plate, never forget to take out time for yourself to recharge those batteries once in a while and to add soul to your otherwise seemingly mechanical life. Make de-stressing a part of your daily routine as a part of ritualistic self care. The mechanism could be reading, playing video games or just going for a walk - anything that holds a certain ‘feel good’ place in your mind should be integrated into your self care while working from home.#
• Skill up! The key to keep the thrill going is to keep adding to your skillset and as a result expanding your work arena one new skill at a time. Bring your flowcharts together, visualize your long term plans and add relevant skill upgrades to make the summit to your goals a smoother journey.
• With everything else in place, you must not ignore your self development while working from home as well. Don't forget to socialize! Given that this lifestyle is known as the new normal is explanation enough that all your agendas need to be moulded within this framework from now onwards. Even in your workplace, it would be beneficial for your well being to keep communicating with your team. 

Here’s The University of Cambridge’s visualisation of a charter of pointers that enable effective team participation and communication while working remotely.

The importance of a workspace

As tempting as it is to stay in the bed and work, having a separate workspace at home ensures that your tasks for the day are decluttered and organised, also training your mind into believing that the said space is the work area and is not meant for resting. According to a  PwC survey assessing the thoughts of hundreds of CEOs, remote working is going to be the norm for quite some time now. Hence, having a separate workspace in a remote environment assumes even greater significance and is also a form of self care, because - 

1. A designated workspace acts as a constant reminder to ace your work everyday. A decluttered office with all essentials in place makes a huge difference when it comes to productivity. Unstraying focus enables a work environment where you get work optimally done.
2. By having a separate workspace, you draw the much needed demarcation between your chores and your office. This ensures a mental separation and brings all the said self care boundaries in order. All in all, rules are easier to follow in such a situation.
3. A great deal of time is saved by not having to run around the place to collect every tool you need before sitting down to work, and even then, most likely, missing something. A desk with all work equipment at the same place, everyday, saves crucial minutes and energy.
4. Lastly, if you’ve made your bed your workspace, you are probably stressing your tailbone and your neck. Sitting for 7-8 hours a day in a place that is not meant for the purpose can lead to multiple similar physiological issues that you’ll only come to know of when the damage has already been done.

How to create a workspace at home

Now that the ‘why’ has been answered, comes the ‘how’ element of setting up a workspace. 
Here’s how to create a workspace at home  -

• Equip your workspace with all the tools you might need. Set up a desk, a comfortable office chair and proper lighting. Keep all the hardware in place and everything at an arm’s reach. Analyse your work and invest in tools accordingly - for example, if you work with multiple devices, look out for a socket extension board. Substantiating the importance of an all inclusive desk, a Flexjobs Survey talks of workers attributing their increased productivity to having a comfortable workspace at home.
•  Connectivity issues can be a real head scratcher if you face those in the middle of a work day, hence it is important to sort this out beforehand. Ensure a good internet connectivity, upgraded software and an area in your house where your wifi doesn’t dwindle.
• A Nulab survey analysing the work culture of remote workers found that 72% of them don’t work from a designated workspace, subsequently highlighting how this could have far reaching side effects on one’s health. Such physical ailments can be avoided by keeping in mind the ergonomics involved while setting up your appliances. Your desk and the chair should go on well with each other - the chair needs to be fixed at a height where when seated, your arm forms a 90 degree angle with the keyboard. If the desk is too high, your metacarpals will start aching and swelling up owing to the slope in angle. Your monitor should be right in front of you, not at a place where you need to bend or crane your neck. If the chair is too high, you’d need a footstool to make sure that your back isn’t bent while working. Here’s a video that teaches you how to create a workspace at home ergonomically - 

• Stick to the work hours. If you sit on the desk for 12 hours a day, the whole point of having a workspace will gradually fade away. If your office hours are 9 to 5, sit on the desk only during that time. This is how you condition your mind to activate the work mode during those hours and be at its managerial best. 

When you chalk out a workspace, your leisure time also turns superlative, your mind dictating when and when not to do a certain task. This has a hand in fitting you into a routined, disciplined life, and is an irreplaceable element of self care for remote workers. Consequently, a better sleep cycle is ensured too, as your subconscious realises that the bedroom is a place for rest and self care, and not work. Accenture’s Elastic Digital Workplace roadmap allows you to quickly transition to a remote workplace environment as shown below:

Conclusion

Self management is the key to guarantee a fruitful and comforting remote environment. Along with work, self care is equally important, if not more. Do not forget to socialize or to catch up with peers and events, do not overstress or overwork! Since work from home is here to stay, now is the time to add to the functionality of your environment and make the most of it while also keeping in mind to strike a balance between office and self care while working from home.