Scheduling time for you can present special challenges when working from home. Many people I’m talking with now expect to be working from home for the rest of the year and need help with work-life balance. So how can you make scheduling time for you a priority so you can avoid overwork, overeating, and chronic stress when working from home?
First, let’s take a closer look at this challenge. Work away from home offers a physical separation between work and home life. We don’t get that separation when working from home. My client Jeanie told me last week that she’s putting in 14-hour work days now when working from home. Another client Laurie finds herself answering emails until well past midnight.
Two things you can do to have some time for you are to:
- Schedule time for breaks during your workday
- Get control of your work hours
Then you’ll have the opportunity to schedule time for you when you’re not working.
3 Reasons to Schedule Breaks During Your Workday
Here are 3 reasons to schedule breaks for self-care during your workday so you don’t fall into the trap of overwork, overeating, and chronic stress.
Recommended: Put self-care breaks in your appointment calendar. Think of them as a high priority like a doctor’s appointment. Then you’ll be more likely to take the time for these self-care breaks.
Take regular short breaks to avoid these problems:
- Fuzzy thinking from working too long in front of the computer can leave us bleary-eyed and with fuzzy thinking.
- Back and neck pain caused by working at the computer for more than 45 minutes at a time.
- Chronic stress that raises your blood cortisol levels and can cause you to overeat or eat unhealthy foods, get less sleep, and have digestive issues.
Get Control of your Work Hours
By scheduling when you’ll start and end your workday, you’ll avoid working what feels like all the time. Then you can schedule time for you even when you’re working from home.
Hint: Mark your workday hours as Time On and the rest of your time as Time Off. How can you also make sure that Time Off includes scheduling time for you?
Scheduling Time For You
Want the secret to renewed energy so you don’t feel tired all the time? The first step is giving yourself the gift of time.
Imagine what life will be like when you can easily tap into a source of energy and serenity deep within you rather than seeking comfort in a sugary or salty snack to soothe your stress and fears. When your stress and fatigue seem out of control, making time for you can help break a cycle that leads to mindless eating. A new sense of wellbeing can give you more passion for life and work and make you feel whole again. How?
Short on Time?
Maybe you’ve decided that you want to lose extra weight and keep it off. You’re ready for more energy and less stress. What’s next? Scheduling time for you! Your transformation starts with this: reclaim 30 minutes a day for yourself and use this time to tap into your inner source of joy and serenity.
How can you find the time to refill your inner wellspring rather than feeling stressed, fatigued, and empty inside? On average American spend four hours and 45 minutes daily watching television. Think again If you have used the excuse that you are too busy, too stressed, or too tired for self-care.
Complete this Scheduling Me Time exercise below to reclaim 30 minutes to an hour a day for you.
Exercise —Scheduling Time for You
How can you find that 25th hour in the day? Start by looking at how you use the 24 hours you have available.
- What are the times of the day or evening that you are most likely to give to yourself (example, get up before the family stirs)?
- When do you usually spend non-work time with screen time watching TV, on your cell phone, or social media? How many hours a day of your non-work time do you spend watching TV, on your cell phone, or another device?
- Which TV programs, Internet sites, and online communities bring you great satisfaction? Which could you more easily do without?
- Pick 30 minutes to an hour or so to reclaim as “Your Time.” When will it be? Use this time to reduce your stress and fatigue and refill your inner wellspring.
- How confident are you that you can make this time available daily on a scale of 1 to 10? 0 = Not at all confident and 10 = completely confident. If your score is less than 7, what could you do to improve your confidence?
Need help figuring out how to schedule time for you and create a healthy relationship with food? Don’t worry. Give me a call. We’ll make an appointment to talk via Zoom or by phone. We’ll see what’s right for you.
Call 301-869-1787 or click here to set up an appointment as my free gift to you.
Together we’ll create your healthy sweet life by building a healthy relationship with food.
Source:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/people-are-spending-most-of-their-waking-hours-staring-at-screens-2018-08-01 downloaded on 6/7/20
To your Joy and Health,
Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Registered Dietitian-Nutritionist